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maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social
Maggie Smith
@maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social
27K followers 1.1K following 660 posts
Poet & NYT bestselling author. New📚: DEAR WRITER, THE PEOPLE’S PROJECT (9.9.25), A SUIT OR A SUITCASE: POEMS (3.24.26). Host of @slowdownshow.org 🎧
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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 · 3d
“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 · 11d
“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
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
"Children are so talented at asking unanswerable questions. Questions that cut you to the quick," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1384.

Read "I do not mention the war in my birthplace to my six-year-old son but somehow his body knows" by Julia Kolchinsky: bit.ly/48Yk4Nz
October 29, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
"This poem has me thinking more and more about chance, and about our circumstances," shares host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in today's episode of The Slowdown.

Read "The Situation in Our City" by Ciona Rouse @cionarouse.bsky.social and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/3Lh50R3
photo and text graphic featuring a portion of Ciona Rouse's poem "The Situation in Our City"
October 28, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
roxanegay.bsky.social
The depth of the shame of a country this wealthy and abundant allowing its people to go hungry is impossible to measure. The fact that a handful of people could fix this by paying their fair share of taxes while still remaining obscenely wealthy makes it even worse.
October 28, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“Today’s poem brought me right back to being a young girl with a beloved doll," shares host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in episode 1382. "Back then, it would have been unbearable to be separated."

Read “Lamb" by Richie Hofmann and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/43FoFR0

📸: Ryan Hagerty
A graphic featuring a portion of Richie Hofmann's poem, "Lamb": At the train stations, all the grown-ups would say, be mindful of your things, little boy, someone will steal right out of your pocket or take the watch off your wrist. My dad had a beautiful overcoat. A photograph of poet Richie Hofmann. He is a white man wearing a white button-up shirt and standing in front of a field of grasses.
October 27, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
jamellebouie.net
dickerson is one of the best broadcast journalists in the game, and someone who would clearly be a real asset to a new leader interested in strengthening the network's journalism. but, of course, we know weiss isn't actually interested in journalism as such.
John Dickerson To Depart CBS News In First Major Talent Exit Under New Paramount Owners
John Dickerson, co-anchor of CBS Evening News who has been with the network since 2009, said that he is exiting at the end of this year.
deadline.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
itsokihaveabook.bsky.social
(2/2) "...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." @mirajacob.bsky.social from THE PEOPLE'S PROJECT @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social @theferocity.bsky.social
October 24, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
itsokihaveabook.bsky.social
(1/2) "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..." @mirajacob.bsky.social
October 24, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“Stories themselves are like seeds in our lives; so much can grow from them," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1380 of The Slowdown.

Read "Like Apple from Seed" by Molly Johnsen and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/43pkHMd

📖: @greenwriterspress.bsky.social
text and photo graphic featuring a snippet from Molly Johnsen's poem photograph of poet Molly Johnsen
October 23, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Maggie Smith
slowdownshow.org
“Today’s poem is as imagistic and musical as a song, and it’s deeply rooted in place," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social says in episode 1379 of The Slowdown. "The poem borrows a refrain from a Lucinda Williams song."

Read "Arkansabop" by @elizabethlinds.bsky.social: bit.ly/4n7J5ZW
graphic featuring a portion of Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers' poem "Arkansabop" photograph of poet Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers
October 22, 2025 at 5:21 PM