Hi, it's Slowdown producer Micah. Winter is here, and it's the perfect time to pause, reflect, and slow down.

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Thank you.

I'm Major Jackson, and this is the slowdown.

Here's another craft episode, but perhaps more of an instigation.

I don't want to complain about what is missing in contemporary poetry.

I want to talk about the extended conceit.

It is one of the finest tools in poetry.

It not only entertains the reader by way of wit and cleverness, but also sharpens the

mind of a poet as they work to render legible their feelings, which, let's admit, lies in

obscurity without the press of language. Everyone's feelings lie in obscurity without some

communication, written or otherwise.

A conversation last winter with a friend led us down the path to a point of disagreement.

Metaphor-making is deceptive and superfluous, on par with lying, he said.

One thing is not like another thing.

On the surface, I agreed.

But how wondrous to imagine a world absent of division!

And how wondrous for a poet to disentangle the chaotic bits of existence into an instance of lucid meaning,

to bring to light a world in an elegant relationship with itself.

...