Episode Overview

Podcast: The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily
Episode: 1349: Sati by Vandana Khanna
Date: September 10, 2025
Host: Maggie Smith

In this episode, Maggie Smith invites listeners to contemplate the power of persona in poetry. She introduces and reflects on Vandana Khanna’s poem “Sati,” a persona poem voiced through the perspective of the Hindu goddess Sati. The episode explores the boundaries between writer and speaker, the potential of imagination in poetic voice, and the illuminating possibilities of stepping into another’s experience through verse.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Limits of "Write What You Know"

• Maggie Smith discusses common writing advice and her own reservations:
  • “You’ve probably heard the adage, write what you know. I remember as a young writer feeling limited by that.” (00:51)
  • She describes her youthful feeling of lack and ordinariness: “Nothing about my life seemed worthy to write about.”
• Smith champions expanding beyond personal experience, proposing a revised approach:
  • “Most of the time I prefer write what you can imagine. The assignment is, is to think bigger and wider, to think beyond your own experience.” (01:15)
  • She affirms imagination’s depth and reach: “If you think about it, your imagination actually knows quite a bit.” (01:22)

Artistic Distance and the Persona Poem

• Smith reflects on the distinction between poet and poetic speaker:
  • “Even if I write I walked my dog in a poem, the reader shouldn’t assume that the I is me, Maggie Smith the poet.” (01:39)
  • She reminds listeners that artistic distance allows for creativity, even when writing seems personal.
• Introducing “persona” as a poetic device:
  • “Persona is from the Latin for mask, and it refers to a character taken on by a writer to speak or narrate a poem.” (02:10)
  • She emphasizes that adopting a persona allows poets to “say something fresh and unexpected, to shed new light.” (02:21)
• Smith gives memorable fictional examples—what if Medusa is afraid of snakes, or Sleeping Beauty is disappointed by the world she wakes into? (02:26)

Context for "Sati" by Vandana Khanna

• Maggie introduces the poem’s mythic speaker and cultural context:
  • Sati, the Hindu goddess, gives voice to the experience that inspired the historical practice named for her.
  • The poem grants the goddess a chance to narrate her own story: “In this poem, Sati gets to speak. I think you’ll be moved by what she has to say.” (02:49)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Persona and Poetic Voice

“Write what you can imagine. The assignment is, is to think bigger and wider, to think beyond your own experience.”
—Maggie Smith (01:15)

“Persona is from the Latin for mask, and it refers to a character taken on by a writer to speak or narrate a poem.”
—Maggie Smith (02:10)

“Even if I write I walked my dog in a poem, the reader shouldn’t assume that the I is me... There’s at least some artistic distance between speaker and poet.”
—Maggie Smith (01:39)

Introduction to the Poem

“Maybe the wolf eating the grandmother debacle in Red Riding Hood was simply a misunderstanding and the wolf would like to tell his side of the story.”
—Maggie Smith (02:32)

“Today’s poem is a Persona poem from the point of view of a Hindu goddess, Sati. The practice of a widow throwing herself on her husband’s funeral pyre is named after Sati, who in this poem gets to speak. I think you’ll be moved by what she has to say.”
—Maggie Smith (02:43–02:50)

Excerpt from “Sati” by Vandana Khanna

(All delivered by Maggie Smith, quoting Khanna):

“My heart is no lantern. No matter what they tell you, it’s not all marigolds and ram ram like some Hindu cheerleading chant.”
(03:00)

“At first all I wanted was fire... Red flame, blue flame, it was all the same.”
(03:15)

“But then right before my bones flared like torchlight... I thought of the cool cusp of the moon, river water soothing my throat contracting around me...”
(03:35)

“Instead I have cinder, all this useless ash cupped into the curve of my body, sitting on my skin for an eternity.”
(04:10)

Timestamps of Important Segments

• 00:51–02:10: Maggie Smith discusses the limits of “write what you know,” and advocates for using imagination in writing.
• 02:10–02:50: Explanation of persona in poetry and introduction to the day's poem and subject.
• 03:00–04:10: Full recitation of “Sati” by Vandana Khanna.
• 04:11–end: Closing and credits (no further content discussion).

Episode Tone and Style

• The episode is reflective, intimate, and inviting—characteristic of The Slowdown’s gentle pace and reverence for poetry’s power.
• Maggie Smith’s narration is warm, encouraging writers and listeners to engage both with their own experience and with empathetic imagination.
• The reading of Khanna's poem is delivered with respect and emotional nuance, allowing listeners to inhabit Sati’s voice and longing.

Summary

In this episode, Maggie Smith opens a portal to understanding poetry’s power to transcend individual experience by inhabiting another’s perspective. Through the lens of the persona poem—specifically Vandana Khanna’s “Sati”—Smith challenges “write what you know,” urging listeners to trust imagination’s depth and the creative distance between author and poem. The reading of “Sati” is haunting and evocative, inviting compassion for a mythic voice. This offering encapsulates The Slowdown’s mission: poetry as a conduit for reflection, empathy, and connection.