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The Slow Down is supported by WW

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Norton & Company, publishers

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of Poetry Unbound by

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Padre Kautuma, a

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poetry anthology that offers

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immersive reflections, keen

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insights, and personal anecdotes on

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50 powerful poems. Focusing

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mainly on poets writing today,

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Poetry Unbound engages with a

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diverse array of voices that

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includes Ada Lamone, Ilya

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Kaminsky, Margaret Atwood,

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Ocean Vong, Lely Long

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Soldier, and Reginald Dwayne Betts.

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Poetry Unbound, now in

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paperback. ["The

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Slow Down"] I'm

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Major Jackson, and this

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is The Slow Down. ["The

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Slow Down"] Since

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moving to Nashville, I've made

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plenty of new friends, but

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I regret that my time is so

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little I cannot spend more precious moments

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with them. They

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are funny, smart, and

1:13

curious. Traits I'm just

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a sucker for. And

1:18

they love to laugh. I

1:20

love to laugh. We share

1:22

the same interests. One

1:25

recently invited me to see Ava

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DuVernay's latest film, another

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to a gala to support our

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local parks, and another

1:35

to a concert, which are

1:37

many here in Music City. But

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alas, my deadlines. Always

1:43

my deadlines. A

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rigorous travel schedule of readings

1:48

shrinks my calendar, too. Over

1:52

bagels, I complained to my

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son, Romy, and said, next year, I'll

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cut back on saying yes to every

1:58

opportunity. He

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laughed. Dad, you

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said the same thing last year. Oof.

2:08

No fun getting called out by your kid. In

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Washington, D.C., some retired

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friends, whom I met for lunch before

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a reading, knowing I was

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squeezing in our get-together, expressed

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worry about all that I'm taking

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on. So did

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a colleague after a Zoom department meeting.

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Apparently, I wear my exhaustion

2:31

quite visibly on my face. Everyone

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says they like me and

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want me around for a long time. I

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love their concern and care. When

2:44

asked, where does this drive come

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from and why, I can

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only answer, it's complicated.

2:52

I read all those articles that

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proclaim how lonely we are becoming.

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I believe there's some truth to it. Here's

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my fear. All

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my work is making me alien to

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myself and others. I'm

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happy people are in my life. I

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wish not to skirt over their humanity, nor

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my own. I do

3:16

not want our relationship to devolve

3:18

to obligation or

3:20

come off as transactional. But

3:23

we naturally negotiate that space

3:26

of difference between ourselves and

3:28

others. How

3:31

rewarding when we can really

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connect to others. Today's

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poem possesses a powerful

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symbolism, one that

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speaks to our fears of the unknown

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in nature and

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people. When

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Your Month is Lonely by

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Christine Kwon. When

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your month is lonely, the walk

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is lovely, but you won't

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walk it. The

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ground wet as eyelashes,

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the fronds dripping steady streams,

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water tapping the fountain, frogs

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chirping. It strikes

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your heart with fear, the

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night gathering as a pool in the

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trees along the fence, the

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sun small and pink and dying

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in the distance behind some stupid

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houses. And though you

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could call someone, it

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may be worse. You'd

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have to entertain, take

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out the cheese and wine, say

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something clever. Maybe

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you should just stay with the night, find

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just one insect

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outside and follow it.

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Tonight, I found a

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brown moth with yellow eyes like

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an owl, opening

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and closing, not

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particularly lustrous, like

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a grandmother's dress, a

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black line running through the hem

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skirting the floor. For

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a few days, I was afraid of

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my damp feet on the wood after

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pacing the night like a lantern. My

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body remembered, I had

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to train myself to remember nothing

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was happening. I

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was not unmoored. I

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could be so sensible and

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night so easy.

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The Slow Down is

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a production of American Public Media

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in partnership with the Poetry Foundation.

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This project is also supported in

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part by the National Endowment for

5:50

the Art on the

5:52

web at art.gov. To

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get a poem delivered to you daily, go

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to theslowdownshow.org and sign

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up for our newsletter.

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And find us on Instagram at

6:13

Slow Down Show. I'm

6:29

Tanya Moseley. In 1987,

6:31

my sister Anita vanished without a

6:33

trace. Decades later, thanks

6:35

to DNA, we found her. But

6:38

that's only the beginning of the story. She

6:41

Has a Name is a new

6:43

audio documentary that explores the search

6:45

for redemption, confronting trauma and

6:47

healing in the face of unimaginable loss.

6:50

Subscribe now to Truth Be Told Presents.

6:52

She Has a Name, where

6:54

every revelation brings us closer to

6:56

the truth.