1357: Country Night by Laura Newbern

Summary

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Episode Summary: The Slowdown – Ep. 1357: “Country Night” by Laura Newbern

Host: Maggie Smith
Date: September 22, 2025

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Overview

In this episode of The Slowdown, host Maggie Smith guides listeners through a heartfelt meditation on memory, family, and the lingering influence of our elders. By reflecting on her own grandmother and then presenting Laura Newbern's poem “Country Night,” Smith explores how poetry can illuminate the complexities of familial love and the shadowy truths we inherit. The episode invites us to reconsider our own histories and the ways light and shadow coexist in our memories.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Reminiscence: Remembering “Dabble” (01:36–04:35)

• Maggie Smith opens with a warm, detailed portrait of her maternal grandmother, affectionately named “Dabble” (01:36).
• Family Lore: Dabble’s nickname originated from a word Smith babbled as a baby, a small accident of language that became family history.
• Distinct Grandmother: Dabble was unconventional—divorced, independent, working at a men’s clothing store, living alone.
• Sensory Memories: Smith reminisces about hiding among wool suits, smelling fabric, and enjoying M&M cookies as big as her head.
• Emotional Underpinnings: Smith’s memories are colored by affection and a recognition that her grandmother’s life didn’t go as planned, which makes her legacy of care and resilience even more poignant.

Notable Quote

"She wasn’t your typical grandmother. She was divorced, living in her own apartment alone. She worked out of necessity in a men's store in a nearby mall."
— Maggie Smith, 02:40

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2. Introduction to Laura Newbern’s “Country Night” (04:36–05:14)

• Smith transitions to discuss why Newbern’s poem resonated with her: it awakened memories of her grandmother’s care and complexities.
• She alludes to the poem’s themes of generational pain and resilience, noting how both her and Newbern’s grandmothers managed light in the shadows of hardship.

Notable Quote

"Today's poem touched me because it made me think of my grandmother. It made me think of her care, but also about the life she had after her marriage ended."
— Maggie Smith, 04:50

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3. Reading of “Country Night” by Laura Newbern (05:14–06:58)

• The Poem's Themes:
  • Contrasts between harsh realities (“my mother’s father was cruel to my mother’s mother”) and tender memories.
  • The coexistence of light and shadow in family legacy: “the poem is half in sunlight, half in shadow.”
  • The role of imagination and storytelling in coping (“A wolf is going to come out of those trees and eat you. I know that is a story for children. I know.”)
  • The grandmother’s enduring warmth: “my grandmother hummed like a warbler, yellow glow in the deep wood for most of her life.”
• Smith reads the poem slowly and reverently, echoing its reflective, sometimes elegiac tone.

Notable Quotes from the Poem

“My mother’s father was cruel to my mother’s mother. I know this, but knowing means nearly nothing.”
— Laura Newbern, 05:16

“The poem, like a sentence, is sometimes in sunlight, even at night the bird will sing.”
— Laura Newbern, 06:50

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4. Reflection and Connection (06:58–07:08)

• Smith closes by drawing together her own memories and the poem’s imagery, highlighting how both her grandmother and Newbern’s found ways to sing—even (or especially) at night, amidst hardship.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Personal Story – Remembering Dabble: 01:36–04:35
• Why Country Night Resonates: 04:36–05:14
• Full Poem Reading: 05:14–06:58
• Closing Reflection: 06:58–07:08

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Memorable Moments and Quotes

• “My memories of Dabble are still as crisp and as pigmented as ever, all these years later.”
  — Maggie Smith, 01:55

• “The poem is half in sunlight, half in shadow, sometimes cloaked in a dark night.”
  — Laura Newbern, 05:30

• “Even at night the bird will sing.”
  — Laura Newbern, 06:55

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Tone and Takeaways

The Slowdown maintains a gentle, contemplative atmosphere. Maggie Smith’s narration is intimate, respectful, and quietly celebratory of small histories. By pairing her own evocative memories with Newbern’s nuanced poetry, she invites listeners to hold complexity, acknowledging pain but foregrounding moments of beauty and songs that get us through.

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For Daily Poems and Reflections:
Visit slowdownshow.org or follow on Instagram @slowdownshow.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[C]

I'm Maggie Smith and this is the Slow Down. My maternal grandmother, the matriarch of our family, died 25 years ago this year. She still visits me in dreams now and then. Her name was Elizabeth, but everyone called her by her middle name, Anne. Her grandchildren did not call her Grandma or Mimi or one of the more conventional titles. No, we called her Dabble, and I was to thank or to blame for that name. It was something I'd babbled as a baby and it stuck. My memories of Dabble are still as crisp and as pigmented as ever. All these years later. She drove a gold Datsun. The radio station she preferred played what I would now call elevator music. Instrumental, but not classical, more like easy listening, like Muzak. Dabble, driving around in her dachshund, whistled like a warbler. She whistled more musically than anyone I'd ever heard. She could bake and she gave great hugs, but in many ways she wasn't your typical grandmother. She was divorced, living in her own apartment alone. She worked out of necessity in a men's store in a nearby mall. My mother would take my sisters and me to visit her there, and I remember walking among the racks of suit jackets and pants and shirts, like walking in grass as tall as I was. Sometimes we would hide in the racks. I remember the smell of wool. It was a special treat when she would walk us down to the cookie shop in the mall and buy us M and M cookies as big as our heads. Or she would take us to lunch in the cafeteria of the Lazarus department store. Grilled cheese sandwiches and chocolate milk never tasted so good. Today's poem touched me because it made me think of my grandmother. It made me think of her care, but also about the life she had after her marriage ended. I know her life didn't look the way she'd expected it would. I wish it had been easier still. She could whistle like a songbird. Country Night by Laura Newburn My mother's father was cruel to my mother's mother. I know this, but knowing means nearly nothing. The man seen by me was a tall man who beautifully wore a hat in the old way, standing beside the door of a car on a dust road. Like a sentence, the poem is half in sunlight, half in shadow, sometimes cloaked in a dark night, my grandfather driving Nat King Cole on the radio and my grandmother humming along. I'm in the back, little and deeply in love with him and with her and the pines rising up and away from the world on either side of the car. And how, he would say, as we rode through the dark, a wolf is going to come out of those trees and eat you. I know that is a story for children. I know. My grandmother hummed like a warbler yellow glow in the deep wood for most of her life. The poem, like a sentence, is sometimes in sunlight, even at night the bird will sing. The Slowdown is a production of American Public Media in partnership with the Poetry Foundation. To get a poem delivered to you daily, go to slowdownshow.org and sign up for our newsletter. And find us on Instagram at slowdownshow and blueskylowdownshow.org.

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[B]

The cancellation notices started coming when the.

[C]

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[D]

It's all happening. Just as schools are trying to make use of research to improve reading instruction.

[C]

There would not have been a science of reading without the federal funding. It wouldn't have happened.

[D]

I'm Emily Hanford on our new episode of Sold a Story, what the Trump Cuts mean for the science of reading. Go to your podcast app and follow Sold a Story.