Sometimes the algorithms bring me joy.
That was the case in November, when the Browse function on my podcast app suggested a new podcast, then one week into its existence: The Slowdown. I caught up and have not missed a single one. Since January, the program has also been available on many public radio stations. The 5-minute podcast is hosted and written by current U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. It’s now part of my afternoon tea and poetry ritual.
The podcast follows a simple format — an introduction, followed by a poem. Each afternoon I turn on my electric kettle to heat water for a large mug of green tea. When the dinger dings, I pour the water over the tea bag, cover the mug, and hit Play while also reading along on the website. Five minutes for poetry, five minutes for tea. When the podcast ends, I take my tea outside and spend another five minutes memorizing whatever poem I am learning By Heart.
Smith’s introductions are deeply personal. She usually shares something from her life, like in episode 9, in which Smith she described her almost accidental descent into alcoholism before reading Portrait of the Alcoholic with Withdrawal, by Kaveh Akbar. Other introductions recall life’s small moments.
Sometimes the poems are old works by a poet I know, but I don’t know the poem, as when she introduced me to “Bat” by D.H. Lawrence. Recently she read a poem I already knew and loved, “Crowning” by Kevin Young.
Sometimes it’s a new-to-me modern poem, as on March 8, when Smith read “The Unwritten” by W.S. Merwin. The poem begins, “Inside this pencil / crouch words that have never been written”. I wrote about the poem in my poetry journal, then looked up Merwin. One week later he passed away.
Merwin moved to Maui in the 1980s to restore eighteen acres, one palm tree at a time. His days were filled with tea, poetry, and planting trees. Now The Merwin Conservancy lives on, with this vision: “The Merwin Conservancy serves as a model for the power of the imagination and the possibilities of renewal.”
Poetic Earth Month, which we’ve been celebrating this April, can mean planting trees, as Merwin did. It can also mean slowing down, midafternoon, for poetry and tea. It can also mean taking time slow down and watch my redbud tree put forth, first, purple blooms, and then, shy green leaves.
Photo by Jirka Matousek, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Megan Willome.
Browse more poetry resources
“Megan Willome’s The Joy of Poetry is not a long book, but it took me longer to read than I expected, because I kept stopping to savor poems and passages, to make note of books mentioned, and to compare Willome’s journey into poetry to my own. The book is many things. An unpretentious, funny, and poignant memoir. A defense of poetry, a response to literature that has touched her life, and a manual on how to write poetry. It’s also the story of a daughter who loses her mother to cancer. The author links these things into a narrative much like that of a novel. I loved this book. As soon as I finished, I began reading it again.”
—David Lee Garrison, author of Playing Bach in the D. C. Metro
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L.L. Barkat says
What a marvelous afternoon ritual! I was memorizing Emily (“I started early — Took my dog”) yesterday while waiting for my girls. Such a great way to pass the time and find quiet inspiration. If I’d had tea, I think that would have been a bit of heaven come down. 🙂
Megan Willome says
That’s why I always travel with a roadie. 🙂
Katie says
Megan,
Thank you for this marvelous post and the links. I very much enjoyed hearing Tracy K. Smith read Kevin Young’s “Crowning” and W. S. Merwin’s “The Unwritten.”
I bet you’ll know why I couldn’t resist writing linked haiku from your essay:
when the dinger, dings
five minutes for poetry
and my cup of tea
when the podcast ends
I take my tea outside, then
memorize by heart
watch my red bud tree
put forth its first purple blooms
and then shy green leaves
Also, when visiting the Merwin Conservancy website I was inspired by their mission statement:
“We inspire innovation in the arts and sciences by advancing the ideas of W.S. Merwin – his life, work, house and palm forest – as fearless and graceful examples of the power of imagination and renewal.”
Just WOW, forty years and 18 acres of palms.
Thank you for writing and sharing:)
Megan Willome says
Katie, thank *you* for the linked haiku!
LW Willingham says
I need to read Merwin.
Megan Willome says
After that episode, I flipped back through some of my poetry journals and found that I’d printed a few from him, not realizing they were all from the same poet.
Mary Van Denend says
Thank you, Megan, for the wonderful resources at The Slow Down. I didn’t know about that! Went immediately to the APB site and listened to TKS introduce several poems. I knew of her work but never heard her voice before. There’s nothing like that, hearing a poet you admire read out loud. So, can’t thank you enough.
Megan Willome says
Mary, I had the same reaction to hearing Tracy K. Smith’s voice. I bought her Pulitzer-winning collection, “Life on Mars,” this fall, and now when I read it, I can imagine her voice.