1492: Community by Emily Bright
The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily
American Public Media
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 13 April 2026
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
Today’s poem is Community by Emily Bright.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I want our house to be a place where anyone can be themselves and know they are with people who care about them, people they can trust. I want my friends and my kids’ friends to feel safe and comfortable, to relax and have fun, and to leave feeling ready to face the world outside, which isn’t always as warm and welcoming as I’d like it to be. Today’s poem is about how the small things we offer one another — meals, conversation, a soft place to land — are not small at all. They’re everything.”
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Happy Poetry Month. |
| 0:02.0 | Friends of the Slowdown are invited to celebrate |
| 0:06.0 | with a special offer from Poetry Magazine. |
| 0:09.0 | This April, an annual subscription to poetry includes a limited edition notebook. |
| 0:16.0 | The notebook features a devious quote from Dorothy Alaska on its cover. |
| 0:22.7 | I'm almost always lying in a poem. |
| 0:26.7 | And the full poem is inside. |
| 0:29.7 | Use the notebook for your own poems, lies, and secrets. |
| 0:35.2 | Subscribe today at poetry magazine.org slash lying. National Poetry Month is the perfect time to |
| 0:44.4 | champion the daily pause you count on from the slowdown. Your donation keeps these free moments |
| 0:51.2 | of reflection available to anyone who needs them. No paywall, |
| 0:56.4 | just poetry and perspective |
| 0:58.4 | in a short, steady ritual. |
| 1:01.4 | Celebrate poetry this month |
| 1:02.9 | by helping more people access it |
| 1:05.3 | every weekday. Donate and |
| 1:07.9 | show your support at |
| 1:09.7 | slowdownsh show.org. |
| 1:17.5 | I'm Maggie Smith, and this is The Slowdown. |
| 1:21.7 | I'm Maggie Smith. Some houses just feel homy, easy, and warm, and welcoming. |
| 1:39.2 | They're the houses that kids and neighbors gravitate to. |
| 1:43.7 | The houses you can feel instantly comfortable in. |
... |
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