Summer is here, and you know what that means. More time to read. To celebrate, Poetry magazine

is offering listeners of the slowdown a five-month subscription to poetry for only $15.

You'll receive five beautiful volumes

of contemporary poetry sent right to your door and unlimited digital access through the Poetry magazine

app so you can bring poetry with you wherever you go this summer. Subscribe today at Poetry magazine.org slash Summer to receive this special offer.

That's Poetry magazine

dot org slash summer.

I'm Major Jackson and this is the slowdown.

The slowdown. When I think of tools of destruction, I typically imagine weapons.

I picture armaments that do harm to life and limb, to nature and property.

I think of handguns, tanks, assault rifles, grenades, guided missiles, you know the big

stuff we see on news programs.

Lately, I've come to think of our belief systems

in the digital pulpitts that deliver them

as psychically injurious,

which is to say, the battleground begins with words. In the worst scenario,

ideology spew hatred that leads to violence in our synagogues, churches, mosques, schools,

grocery stores, and outdoor gatherings. Even our reigning beliefs prove oppressive

and emotionally harmful to some,

those seeking recognition.

How is it possible in the 21st century to believe that whole groups of

people are less than anyone else or have no right to exist because of the faith that orders their world,

...