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I promise this summer, no really, I’ll help you tame your back lot. The kids and I will be over. I’ll bring a rake and pruning shears. You’ll put on a pot of tea. Today’s poem is “Tea with Ann” by Mary Brancaccio bit.ly/3VbOcvR

“Today’s poem implies that our friends are our bounty. Our essential relationships are born from shared stories over an expanse of time as well as the effort we put into physically being with each other.” Today’s poem is “Tea with Ann” by Mary Brancaccio bit.ly/3VbOcvR

I have a worry mother and I have a worry father and once they shared a worry and my own worry a sprout in this worry dirt, bullied by the worry weeds, spoiled by the worry sun and rain and Today’s poem is “Worry (the Dybbuk)” by Anthony Immergluck bit.ly/3HgK6Nl

“Today’s poem points comically to the omnipresence of worry, how it's rooted in the soil of our existence,” shares @Poet_Major. Today’s poem is “Worry (the Dybbuk)” by Anthony Immergluck bit.ly/3HgK6Nl

And we could share which walls absorb sadness, / till morning light leans in comforting the contours / of the bed, but chances are you’ll learn this / on your own. Today’s poem is “To The Buyer of Our Old Home” by @HelenPWallace bit.ly/3L5Dt1u

“Today’s wise poem unearths the idiosyncrasies of an old home and in doing so, reveals how its past and future inhabitants are woven together in time,” shares @Poet_Major. Today’s poem is “To The Buyer of Our Old Home” by @HelenPWallace bit.ly/3L5Dt1u

“Today’s poem states a truth about turbulent times. After the sadness, fear, and uncertainty, a group of us will inevitably feel that distinct feeling of having surmounted some great hardship,” says @Poet_Major Today’s poem is “La Peste” by Marilyn Nelson bit.ly/3mZDLie

I woke myself up laughing, and today I went down / to the lake and sat for an hour listening to ice / shift and break into endless shards, its creaking ceaseless, Today’s poem is “Last Night I Had Such Good Dreams” by Jennifer Perrine bit.ly/3AovAix

Before National Poetry Month ends, help us celebrate the power of poetry by starting a monthly donation to The Slowdown. Help sustain the public media podcast that provides a moment of reflection every weekday, all year long, at bit.ly/3GdTfWm

“Sometimes words directed back to ourselves as lack of worth, the self-critiques we vocalize, though of our own making, are sentiments put there by someone else,” shares @Poet_Major. Today’s poem is “Last Night I Had Such Good Dreams” by Jennifer Perrine bit.ly/3AovAix

“Today’s poem, drawn from the language of biology, contains a strong and simple message about diversity in society,” shares @Poet_Major. Today’s poem is “Apologia” by Cherene Sherrard @autumnhouseprs bit.ly/41mu7oZ

I return my first pair of full-priced boots. / I un-sign my first lease. I go home. // My parents remarry. I have not yet chosen / the school that will cost their life savings. Today’s poem is “Learning Money in Reverse” by Stephanie Niu @niusteph bit.ly/3KTSymD

“Today’s ingenious poem calls attention to the lived realities of financial literacy, how it’s touch & go, and how it’s thrust upon us if we are not fortunate to receive those lessons in our home.” Today’s poem is “Learning Money in Reverse” by @niusteph bit.ly/3KTSymD

In Wimberley, Texas, there is a hole in the sandstone someone has called definitely deep blue. Bluebonnets grow on the road up to it and lost mountain bluebirds fly around and in it in concentric circles. “Diving at Blue Hole” by Ally H. Young bit.ly/3KLidO6

“Today’s poem continues the rich tradition of celebrating a poetry of place, utterly unique & rich for its ability to cultivate its poets to sing our land into our literary record,” says @Poet_Major. Today’s poem is “Diving at Blue Hole” by Ally H. Young bit.ly/3KLidO6