"The Slowdown" Podcast Welcomes Two Acclaimed Poets This Summer

 Edgar Allan Poe once said of poetry: "Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words"

One of many strengths of podcasting is its ability to identify and serve specialized audiences. For poetry fans -- and yes, for those consumed by social media, there is still poetry --
American Public Media (APM) offers The Slowdown, produced in partnership with the Poetry Foundation and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. 

APM Studios, a division of APM, offers a diverse array of podcasts, featuring topics such as food, culture, entertainment, business, and investigative journalism.

Regular host of The Slowdown, Ada Limón, was recently named the next U.S. Poet Laureate. She will continue her hosting duties until the end of the current season, with her last episode airing on October 31. The search for the next regular host of The Slowdown is underway.

 The big news for poetry fans is that this summer, The Slowdown will welcome two guest hosts – acclaimed poets Nate Marshall and Shira Erlichman. Poets Nate Marshall and Shira Erlichman will each be guest hosting on the podcast, which features a daily reflection ​followed by a poem read by the host.

Marshall’s hosting stint will take place during the weeks of July 25 and August 1, with Erlichman taking the helm during the weeks of August 22 and 29.

Erlichman is a poet, musician, and visual artist. Her work has been featured in Buzzfeed Reader, The Rumpus, PBS NewsHour’s Poetry Series, The Huffington Post, The Seattle Times, and The New York Times, among others. She is the winner of the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry and a Lambda Award Finalist.

Marshall is an award-winning writer, editor, educator, and MC. His most recent book, Finna, was recognized as one of the best books of 2020 by NPR and The New York Public Library.

Subscribe to “The Slowdown” wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting slowdownshow.org, and follow “The Slowdown” on social media @slowdownshow.

If you can name this famous poem based on only the first stanza, congratulations, and you should listen to The Slowdown.

It is an ancient Mariner,

And he stoppeth one of three.

'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,

Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?