1460: Poem to Remind Myself of the Natural Order of Things by Donika Kelly
The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily
American Public Media
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2026
⏱️ 6 minutes
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Summary
Today’s poem is Poem to Remind Myself of the Natural Order of Things by Donika Kelly.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is such a beautiful meditation on knowing ourselves, and knowing what we need to be at home in our own lives.”
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Maggie Smith, and this is the slowdown. |
| 0:19.4 | I don't have a five-year plan. I'm not sure there was ever a time in my life when I did. |
| 0:29.9 | In five years, my youngest will be 18 and getting ready to leave home. My oldest will be 22 and getting ready to leave home. My oldest will be 22 and getting ready to begin her adult life. |
| 0:45.2 | I suppose one version of a five-year plan for me is supporting my daughter through college and supporting my son through high school. |
| 0:56.1 | But then what? What's next for me? The honest answer is, I don't know. I have five years to think |
| 1:08.3 | about what I want out of the next stage of my life, five years to think about what I want out of the next stage of my life, five years to |
| 1:14.2 | think about my priorities, and what might make me happy and fulfilled, and how I might want to |
| 1:22.1 | use my time and talents. What are my hopes? I hope, as a writer, I'm still lit up by new ideas. I hope I'm in love |
| 1:35.9 | and building something lasting. I hope that with the freedom of becoming an empty nester, |
| 1:43.2 | I'm traveling and spending time with friends, |
| 1:48.0 | and having adventures that were previously more difficult to manage. This is a wish list, though, |
| 1:56.2 | not anything near a plan. And I think that's okay. I want to stay flexible and open. I want to focus on how my |
| 2:07.1 | life feels on the inside, not how it looks from the outside. I've been talking to my daughter |
| 2:15.7 | about this too as she finishes high school and starts to think about college. |
| 2:22.3 | Where will she go? What will she study? What kind of career might she have later? |
| 2:30.5 | All of these are good questions and questions that are natural to ask when we are on the precipice of big changes. |
| 2:40.6 | But I keep asking her other questions too. What do you want your days and therefore your life to feel like? I want her to be able to breathe. I want her to enjoy her |
| 2:58.2 | life, where she lives, and with whom, and how she spends her time. It doesn't matter how prestigious a college is, or how good a class or |
| 3:12.3 | activity looks on her transcript or resume, or how well-paying a career might be if she doesn't |
| 3:21.1 | feel good about those choices. |
| 3:27.6 | I want her to trust me on something, |
| 3:34.1 | that what she wants in life can and will change, |
... |
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