logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2023
6m 10s

932: Letter to my sister

American Public Media
About this episode

Today’s poem is Letter to my sister by Trapeta B. Mayson.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “My mother did not live long enough to read my poems about her. I like to think that she would have appreciated how I processed our shared history and relationships, even the difficult moments. I like to think she’d have granted me the latitude to craft the poems I needed to write, and possibly understood that the practice of poetry is one of imagining and composing rather than simply reporting what happened. ”


Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Up next
Today
[encore] 1174: Separation Wall by Naomi Shihab Nye
Today’s poem is Separation Wall by Naomi Shihab Nye.Last spring, we asked our community to submit poems that have helped you slow down in your lives. This week we’re revisiting these selections. Today’s selection was submitted by Meital from Washington, D.C. In this episode, Majo ... Show More
7m 4s
Yesterday
[encore] 1173: Sono by Suji Kwock Kim
Today’s poem is Sono by Suji Kwock Kim. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. Last spring, we asked our community to submit poems that have helped you slow down in your lives. This week we’re revisiting these selections. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem coordinate ... Show More
6m 45s
Jul 8
[encore] 1172: From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee
Today’s poem is From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee. Last spring, we asked our community to submit poems that have helped you slow down in your lives. This week we’re revisiting these selections. Today’s selection was submitted by Candace from North Carolina. This week we’re featuring ... Show More
6m 48s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2021
In a powerful memoir, poet Joy Harjo talks about finding her voice and using it
Poet Laureate Joy Harjo says she loved poetry as a kid, but didn't feel like it belonged to her. "It wasn't until I heard Native poets," she tells NPR's Michel Martin, "that I realized that, wow, this is a powerful tool of understanding and affirmation. And I don't know, I just s ... Show More
8m 41s
Feb 2024
#22 Mon fils ! Tu seras Châtaignier - Ray
Châtaignier ! Être Châtaignier de père en fils ;Et pourtant casser les traditions pour devenir soi-même ;C’est ça d’avoir un papa rock ! Créer ses propres feux d’artifice !Mesdames et Messieurs Ray est tout un poème… Lis Tes RaturesLe Podcast Poésie. Aujourd’hui encore, qui sont ... Show More
1h 31m
Jun 2022
418 "Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson
Because Jacke could not stop for the scheduled episode topics, a certain poem kindly stopped for him. Luckily it's one of the greatest poems of all time! It's by the 19th-century American genius Emily Dickinson, and it packs into seven short stanzas a journey through life, death, ... Show More
57m 4s
May 2024
New From Poetry Unbound: A Series on Conflict and the Human Condition
A taste of a special mini-season of Poetry Unbound — bringing contemplative curiosity and the life-nurturing tether of poetry to the very present matter of conflict in our world. In this first offering, Pádraig introduces the intriguing idea of poems as teachers and ponders Wisła ... Show More
11m 9s
Jun 2024
#30 Petite bourgeoisie abidjanaise et prolétariat le plus bas - Lisko
Lunettes de soleil, voix grave, suave et feutrée ;Lisko nous raconte son parcours de blédard ;Le rap et journalisme qu'il aime à faire jongler ;Dans une langue et phrasé qu'il érige au rang d'art...Lis Tes Ratures // Le Podcast PoésieAujourd’hui encore, qui sont les gens qui font ... Show More
1h 55m
Jul 2023
#14 Face au Chaos, restons lucide, baisons - Yas
Du Chaos naissent les plus belles fleurs ;De ses voyages, elle a fait force ;Mesdames et messieurs Yas est d'une fureur ;Dont les mots brûlent d'un feu féroce... Lis Tes Ratures, Le Podcast Poésie. Aujourd’hui encore, qui sont les gens qui font vivre la Poésie ?Lis Tes Ra ... Show More
57m 57s
Oct 2021
How to Enjoy Poetry, and Why
I yammer on for a while about how inadequate any theory of poetry is, and then I think I end up outlining a tentative theory of poetry. Oops.    
56m 19s
Jun 2018
Elisa New on Poetry in America and Beyond
Elisa New believes anyone can have fun reading a poem. And that if you really want to have a blast, you shouldn't limit poetry to silent, solitary reading  - why not sing, recite, or perform it as has been the case for most of its history? The Harvard English professor and host o ... Show More
54m 10s
Jun 2024
“The End of Poetry” by Ada Limón
An impassioned plea, a yearning for connection — the poem U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón wrote when she says all language failed her. Take in Ada's reading of her piece, “The End of Poetry” — and hear her read more of her work in the On Being episode, “To Be Made Whole.”Ada Limón i ... Show More
1m 43s
Aug 2022
Poems in Practice and in Theory
Elisa Gabbert, the Book Review's On Poetry columnist, visits the podcast this week to discuss writing about poetry and her own forthcoming collection of poems, her fourth, “Normal Distance.”“When I’m writing what I would call nonfiction or an essay or just pure prose, I’m really ... Show More
43m 26s