The slowdown is your daily dose of poetry. Starting January 23rd, a new voice will be your guide.

One beautiful morning last summer, I rushed to hit the trails. If I had any common sense,

I would have waited a couple days after the previous night's rains. The forest floor was mucky.

So shortly into my hike, I tripped and slid down the slope on the side of the mountain.

I was in some pain and helped my left wrist. Grimacing, I panned the ground.

My face opened in surprise and then opened some more in wonder. Here before me was a patch of

porcelain white flowers that I had never seen before growing in the wild. I had never seen anything

like them. They looked like flowers from the underworld. They were eerie and translucent

stalks huddled and clusters. Their heads hanging as if embarrassed by my having discovered them.

Those flowers called my attention away from the mountain I was trying to climb and towards

the beautiful mysteries surrounding me. Poetry does that too. Urges us into a recognition of the world

and its vastness. In writing and sharing our poems, we take a moment to acknowledge its magnitude

and its abundance together.

I'm Major Jackson, your new host of The Slowdown. I'll be sharing with you a poem

in a moment of reflection in one short episode every weekday. The Slowdown is produced by

American Public Media and partnership with the Poetry Foundation. Join us starting Monday,

January 23rd, wherever you get your podcasts.