[encore] 624: Sunflowers in the Median
The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily
American Public Media
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 25 July 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
Today’s poem is Sunflowers in the Median by Natalie Homer.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on March 4, 2022.
In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “What is it about noticing beauty that brings you out of yourself and returns you to yourself? I love rooting for beauty, for awe, for those unexpected visions that make life a little easier to manage. In today’s vibrant poem, we see how the image of sunflowers can allow for a sort of grace. I love this poem for its appreciation of unexpected beauty.”
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
Transcript
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| 1:00.0 | Hey, it's me, Major Jackson. |
| 1:02.6 | We're reaching into the archive to bring you some of our favorites. |
| 1:06.4 | Here's one from Ada Limon's tenure as host. |
| 1:10.1 | Her thoughtfulness and deep love of poetry made her time on the show very special. |
| 1:16.1 | I hope you enjoy this selection from the archives. |
| 1:25.4 | I'm Ada Limon, and this is the slowdown. |
| 1:28.3 | When I was 17, I graduated early from high school and moved to Germany to follow my boyfriend who had moved there with his father. |
| 1:47.5 | The goal was to travel as much as we could on the very little money we had saved up from working through high school. |
| 1:54.8 | We could use his father's house as home base. |
| 1:58.4 | He lived in a little town called Vickshausen, and from there we went to Spain, |
| 2:04.4 | France, England, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Chechia, mostly by train, |
| 2:13.3 | mostly staying in hostels, or camping, mostly fighting and then making up again. |
... |
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