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maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social
Maggie Smith
@maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social
27K followers 1.1K following 660 posts
Poet & NYT bestselling author.
Next book: A SUIT OR A SUITCASE: POEMS (March 24, 2026)
Host of @slowdownshow.org
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Reposted by Maggie Smith
mkdordiggsy.bsky.social
So grateful to have “Gloria Mundi” featured on The Slowdown podcast this morning. Thank you to the host, Maggie Smith, for seeing the poem fully and reading it beautifully.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily
Performing Arts Podcast · Updated Semiweekly · Host Maggie Smith is your daily poetry companion. Poetry is one of the greatest tools we have to wield our own attention — to consider our own lives and ...
podcasts.apple.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“The speaker of today’s poem imagines loved ones coming to their funeral—and they have some directives, and some requests," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's episode of The Slowdown, number 1402.

Read "Gloria Mundi" by Michael Kleber-Diggs: https://bit.ly/3Xb2ezJ
A text graphic featuring a portion of Michael Kleber-Diggs' poem: Come to my funeral dressed as you would for an autumn walk in the woods. Arrive on your schedule; I give you permission to be late, even without good cause. If my day arrives when you had other plans, please proceed with them instead. Celebrate me there — keep dancing. Tend your gardens. Live well. Don’t stop. Photograph of poet Michael Kleber-Diggs. He's a black man standing in front of a tan brick wall. HE's wearing glasses and has a salt-and-pepper beard.
November 24, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
jamespenha.bsky.social
Oh, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social, I love your "confession" at today's @slowdownshow.org: "I have a funeral playlist—a list of songs I want played at whatever my memorial service turns out to be." www.slowdownshow.org/episode/2025...
1402: Gloria Mundi by Michael Kleber-Diggs
Today’s poem is Gloria Mundi by Michael Kleber-Diggs.
www.slowdownshow.org
November 24, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“Today’s poem dreams its way into an imagined scenario: finding oneself on this planet, an alien, a stranger, and doing one’s best to be seen as belonging, so as to stay," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1401 of The Slowdown.

Read "LeaveTaking" by Rita Dove: bit.ly/49VUARa
Text graphic featuring a portion of Rita Dove's poem. It reads: I was waiting I knew they were coming over the hill I knew the moment I stepped out onto the grass I too would disappear What a curious sensation being the stranger If I thought about it too long I would be seen for what I was but try too hard to blend in I might forget myself and miss my pickup and be stranded forever Photograph of poet Rita Dove. She is a Black woman with chin-length brown, curly hair.
November 21, 2025 at 7:51 PM
maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social
Earnest post alert. I know, when I look back at the weirdest & most complicated times in my life, the not-enough-sleep times, I’ll see what got me through, & it will be my friends.
November 21, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“More than any genre, perhaps, poetry can help us say the unsayable," host Maggie Smith (@maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social) shares in episode 1400 of The Slowdown. "It helps to let poets take the reins."

Read "The Eulogy I Didn't Give (I)" by Bob Hicok and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/49omPYz
A text graphic featuring a portion of Bob Hicok's poem. It reads: I am now fathered but fatherless, a being whose being can half be traced to a hole in the ground, where my father’s beard is, and his bones. His beard will grow for a while down there and his bones will never cast a shadow, and I’ll always know where to go to look at his name cut in stone. A photograph of poet Bob Hicok. He is working on a construction project and wearing a white t-shirt and baseball cap.
November 20, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“What can literature, or music, or film, or performance, or visual art do for us, particularly when we are struggling, individually and collectively?" asks @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in today's episode, number 1398.

Read "A dead whale can feed an entire ecosystem" by Rachel Dillon: bit.ly/4oLpz7f
Text graphic featuring a portion of Rachel Dillon's poem. It reads: Please, someone— tell me a poem can coax oil from a sea bird’s throat. Tell me what to do with my hands—my hands— what can my hands do now? A photograph of poet Rachel Dillon. It's shot in double exposure, so she appears in the image twice, with one version of her looking to the side and one looking forward.
November 18, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
awpwriter.org
AWP is elated to announce Kiese Laymon, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social, Justin Torres, and Weike Wang as judges for the 2026 AWP Award Series! Check out our website to learn more about each judge and award. Submissions open January 1, 2026.
AWP Award Series
www.awpwriter.org
November 17, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“Today’s poem makes us consider how we write about other people," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode number 1397 of The Slowdown.

Read “Palinode" by Lisa Low and our full episode transcript: https://bit.ly/4p7SOAO

📖: University of Wisconsin Press
Text graphic featuring a portion of Lisa Low's poem "Palinode." It reads: Your mother enters the poem with her sadness intact. When your mother enters the poem, should she be a strict, sad, hardworking, or immigrant mother? Your mother enters the poem wearing all her animal-print items at once, laughs holding a leopard-print lamp. Photograph of poet Lisa Lowe. She has short, dark hair and is wearing a black-and-white patterned blouse in front of a green hedge.
November 17, 2025 at 4:52 PM
maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social
I don’t know how you reset your vibe, but tonight I’m playing “Dopamine” by Robyn on repeat & dancing around the house & I’m telling you…it’s working.
November 14, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
dansinker.com
Hey next Feb/March I'm helping the incredible @meganstielstra.bsky.social with a class she's teaching called "Writing Rage." The amazing @smashfizzle.bsky.social and @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social and Carmen Maria Machado are also helping. Will be wild. www.offassignment.com/writing-rage
Writing Rage — Off Assignment
www.offassignment.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
meghanor.bsky.social
I'm so honored to have my work featured on the Slow Down! Thank you, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social.

Wonderful timing, as I'm writing poems again and trying to finish a manuscript. New poems coming soon from some magazines near you! ✨
slowdownshow.org The Slowdown @slowdownshow.org · 15d
“While we don’t have access to the answers, this poem is a beautiful place for the questions to live," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1393 of The Slowdown.

Read “The Night Where You No Longer Live" by @meghanor.bsky.social: bit.ly/4qSoA6s

📖: @wwnorton.com
A text graphic featuring a portion of Meghan O'Rourke's poem, which you can listen to in full at the link in the post.
November 11, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“While we don’t have access to the answers, this poem is a beautiful place for the questions to live," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1393 of The Slowdown.

Read “The Night Where You No Longer Live" by @meghanor.bsky.social: bit.ly/4qSoA6s

📖: @wwnorton.com
A text graphic featuring a portion of Meghan O'Rourke's poem, which you can listen to in full at the link in the post.
November 11, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“Sometimes I prefer to engage with art — to listen to a record or see a film — without expectations," host Maggie Smith (@maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social) shares in episode number 1392 of The Slowdown.

Read “Local Mission" by Kai Carlson-Wee and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/47QaRVl
A graphic featuring a portion of Kai Carlson-Wee's poem. It reads: in early July (maybe the exact same street corner) looking at maple leaves catching the rain, I will see only pity and lichen-shades, barely-there shadows that fall to the street, and the light will be too far away to remember, and the words will be drizzle and maple and green, and before I know it the language will not let me leave it–– the traffic will pass as it always has passed: dependably, rumbling west of the bridge.
November 10, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
lorimortimer.com
Stumbled upon @shelflifebooksrva.bsky.social while walking around Richmond, VA today. What a great little bookstore! Grabbed The People’s Project for my flight home tonite. Perfect carry-on size. Been on my TBR for a while. Thank you, @theferocity.bsky.social & @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“Today’s poem is one I’ve carried around in my mind for years, one whose language I flash to instinctively when I see a flock of birds," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1391.

Read "Never-ending Birds" by David Baker (@davidbakerpoet.bsky.social): bit.ly/4ouhPWU

📖: @wwnorton.com
Graphic featuring a portion of David Baker's poem. It reads: That's us pointing with our delible whorls into the faraway, the true-born blue- white unfeathering cloud of another year. Another sheet of their never ending. Photograph of poet David Baker. He's wearing a black collared shirt and round-rimmed glasses.
November 7, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“There is power in naming, as today’s poem reminds us," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1390 of The Slowdown. "Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Nor should you."

Read “The Poem Climbs the Scaffold and Tells You What It Sees" by @natashaoladokun.bsky.social: bit.ly/49At8by
A quote graphic featuring a portion of Natasha Oladokun's poem. It reads: decked in black from scalp to heel scythe in hand ready and eager to meet yourself pounding at your own door for all the talk you keep hearing these days about the need for gallows humor you have to wonder who is putting what or whom on the scaffold as you drive Old Lynchburg Road so curved and steep you cannot see the faint parting of light lying beyond it A photograph of poet Natasha Oladokun. She has long, dark curly hair, tattoos, and is wearing a flannel shirt.
November 6, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
jillkitchen.bsky.social
"You can also save someone’s life by loving them, by just being with them so they’re not alone." - @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in the intro to this beautiful and gutting poem about friendship by @jennymolberg.bsky.social
slowdownshow.org The Slowdown @slowdownshow.org · 23d
“It can be so hard to accept help from others, especially if you pride yourself on being self-sufficient," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1387 of The Slowdown.

Read “Different Kinds of Sadness" by @jennymolberg.bsky.social and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4oIADBE
A text graphic featuring a portion of Jenny Molberg's poem. A photograph of poet Jenny Molberg. She has long dark blonde hair and is standing in front of a textured wall. Her hair is covering her face.
November 6, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“Today’s poem introduced me to a new word for longing or yearning — and it showed me a way to use that expansive desire as a frame for the magic of everyday life," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's episode.

Read “Sehnsucht" by @michaeldumanis.bsky.social: bit.ly/47Y85hR
A text graphic featuring a portion of Michael Dumanis' poem. It reads: My daughter is swan. Is crab grass run riot. Meanwhile, I am becoming unrecognizable to everyone except myself, and it does not matter: before it is time to resemble no one I have had the mixed fortune to resemble most things. My shadow lingers in the corner of the photo of the painting. I may not know more than a bedraggled llama craning its neck past the impregnable fence. Still, I participated in the world.
November 5, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“Today’s poem unexpectedly merges the playfulness of anagrams with the gravitas of a terminal diagnosis — the weight of reckoning with the end of one’s life," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1388.

Read “When I learn Catastrophically " by the late Martha Silano: bit.ly/43SNIA9
A text graphic featuring a portion of the poem "When I learn Catastrophically," written by the late Martha Silano. It reads: The sky does all sorts of marvelously uncatastrophic things that winter I shimmy between science & song, between widgeons & windows, weather & its invitation to walk. Walking, which becomes my lose less, my less morsels, my lose smile while more sore looms. Sometimes I wander for hours, my mile pace over half an hour, everyone passing the lady at dusk talking to herself about looming rooms, soil lies, ire & else. Chuckling about my mileage gone down the toilet, I plant the rose of before, the oil of after. A photograph of the late poet Martha Silano. She is a middle-aged woman with long, wavy brown-grey hair and clear-rimmed glasses. She is photographed outside, with leaves/trees behind her.
November 4, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
lsupress.bsky.social
This week on @slowdownshow.org, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social reads @jennymolberg.bsky.social's "Different Kinds of Sadness." ‬This great poem first appeared in "Refusal" (LSU Press, 2020), and we were so happy to revisit it. Listen here! bit.ly/3X7C54y
November 3, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“It can be so hard to accept help from others, especially if you pride yourself on being self-sufficient," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1387 of The Slowdown.

Read “Different Kinds of Sadness" by @jennymolberg.bsky.social and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4oIADBE
A text graphic featuring a portion of Jenny Molberg's poem. A photograph of poet Jenny Molberg. She has long dark blonde hair and is standing in front of a textured wall. Her hair is covering her face.
November 3, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
mfborborygmus.bsky.social
Finding strength from The People's Project (@theferocity.bsky.social and @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social) and this page especially (@mirajacob.bsky.social)
A photo of a poem titled "You Are Here" by Mira Jacob. The text of the poem follows: "Leaving this here at you have it to come back to today. This country has always been brutal, and there has always been an us who have been fighting it. The beauty that comes out of that fight, the way our love for each other changes the world around us, is real and glorious and unrelenting. It cannot be caged, tamed, erased, or lost. You are part of that tradition. I know you are starting to know this, but you really know it now. Art is making something no one asked for - not because they didn't need it, but because they didn't know they needed it until you made it, until it helped them breathe and dream and find a way forward. It's part of a map that shows us how we get out of this place. Keep going. Do your part. Love you - Mom."
November 2, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
"Today’s poem is by one of my favorite poets," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1385. "Stan understood the double bind of deep solitude: that for the poet, for the artist, it’s as lonely as it is necessary."

Read "At Night" by Stanley Plumly: bit.ly/3WvzWQ4
Photo and text graphic featuring a portion of Stanley Plumly's poem "At Night"
October 30, 2025 at 9:04 PM
maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social
I know tomorrow’s Halloween, but are we listening to Johnny Mathis Christmas songs in our house this morning? Unapologetically.
October 30, 2025 at 11:49 AM