1566: What I Wanted to Keep Private by Melissa Crowe episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 24, 2026 · 6 MIN

1566: What I Wanted to Keep Private by Melissa Crowe

from The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily · host American Public Media

Today’s poem is What I Wanted to Keep Private by Melissa Crowe.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I think self-compassion is the most challenging kind of compassion. We are so hard on ourselves, aren’t we? We humans carry around so much guilt and shame. We ruminate about breakups and arguments. We think about the things we said in anger that we wish we could take back. We think about the things we didn’t say and wish we had. We replay the past despite being unable to change it.The speaker of today’s poem confesses something — and in doing so, with self-compassion and self-forgiveness, sets it down.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jul 24, 2026

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1566: What I Wanted to Keep Private by Melissa Crowe

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