Summary4 min read

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Episode 1366: "Nostalgia" by Matthew Minicucci

Host: Maggie Smith
Date: October 3, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Maggie Smith delves into the concept of nostalgia, both as a historical ailment and a contemporary experience shaped by memory and technology. Through personal anecdotes and reflection, she builds a bridge to Matthew Minicucci's evocative poem "Nostalgia," which explores the heartache and longing that often accompany distant memories. The episode prompts listeners to reflect on their own relationship with the past and the role of poetry in fostering compassionate self-awareness.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The History of Nostalgia as Illness

[00:13] Maggie introduces nostalgia as once being recognized as a medical condition in the 17th century by Swiss physician Johannes Hofer.
- “Hundreds of years ago, nostalgia was a diagnosable medical condition. Johannes Hofer, a 17th century Swiss physician, named the condition, which he identified in homesick soldiers…”
- She explains the etymology: “the gnost in nostalgia means homecoming the alga means pain.”
- Symptoms included “melancholy, malnutrition, sleepiness, brain fever, and hallucinations.”
- Hofer saw nostalgia as “the pain of not being able to go home,” expanding the idea of “home” to also include a place, time, person, or former self.

Personal Reflections on Nostalgia in the Digital Age

Maggie shares how modern technology brings the past—sometimes unbidden—to our daily attention.
- “Thanks to technology, I have nostalgia at my fingertips at any moment of any day. Shutterfly wants to show me what my life looked like 11 years ago today. Facebook wants to show me my memories over the years. My photo library on my phone offers up highlights and algorithmically selected moments from the past.” [~01:55]
- “If I wanted to forget about a time, a place, or a person, my devices won't let me.”
- She invokes vivid family memories—her children’s milestones, their “first day of school,” and small, tender moments captured in photos.

The Role of Poets and Poetry in Nostalgia

Maggie observes, with gentle humor, the writer’s tendency to experience nostalgia even in real-time:
- “I joke that I can be nostalgic about a moment while it's happening. That might be the writer in me. Part of me is in the moment, and part of me is already thinking about it from a distance and seeking the language to write about it.” [~01:25]
She positions poetry as a medium that can help “capture the pain of distance, of longing, of wanting to be somewhere or with someone when you can't.” [~02:45]

Featured Poem: “Nostalgia” by Matthew Minicucci

[02:58]

Maggie reads Matthew Minicucci’s evocative poem, which intimately explores the anguish of lost connection and memory. The poem weaves together images of the sea, dreams, garments, and the elusive quality of memory itself.

Notable excerpts:

“The worst part of it is that I've forgotten your face…”
“Love is a logogram less than fewer still a word made nothing more than cotter mark on starboard hard port. I left all those years ago.”
“Sometimes I dream of my own Sorry our own great rooted bed shaped from something still alive.”
“And suddenly you're the moon again, lost in reflection sea. I follow the light to nowhere…”
“It's the worst part of forgetting all this. Remembering.”

The poem’s language—at once nautical, mythic, and personal—echoes the episode’s themes: the ache of remembrance, the struggle to access faded details, and the tangle of loss and longing that nostalgia brings.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

[00:55] Maggie on the impact of technology:
“My point is, if I wanted to forget about a time, a place, or a person, my devices won't let me.”
[01:25] On the writer’s experience of nostalgia:
“I joke that I can be nostalgic about a moment while it's happening.”
[02:50] Prefacing the poem:
“Today's poem beautifully captures the pain of distance, of longing, of wanting to be somewhere or with someone when you can't.”
[03:40] From Minicucci’s poem:
“Love is a logogram less than fewer still a word made nothing more than cotter mark on starboard hard port. I left all those years ago.”
[04:33] The close of the poem’s longing:
“It's true. It's the worst part of forgetting all this. Remembering.”

Episode Structure & Flow

00:13 – 02:45: Maggie Smith’s reflection on nostalgia’s history, her personal experiences with memory and technology, and how poetry helps us process longing.
02:58 – 04:45: Reading of “Nostalgia” by Matthew Minicucci.
04:45 – end: Brief show credits and invitation to engage with The Slowdown community.

Takeaways

This meditative episode encourages listeners to acknowledge nostalgia’s bittersweet duality: pain and longing entwined with gratitude for memory. Through Smith’s warm, personal reflections and Minicucci’s poignant poem, “Nostalgia,” the episode offers solace and companionship for anyone navigating the push-and-pull of remembering—and forgetting—what once was.

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Transcript4 lines

[00:00]
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Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change your receipt did the sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5 only at McDonald's for a limited time.
[00:14]
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Prices and participation may vary. I'm Maggie Smith and this is the Slowdown. Hundreds of years ago, nostalgia was a diagnosable medical condition. Johannes Hofer, a 17th century Swiss physician, named the condition, which he identified in homesick soldiers, the gnost in nostalgia means homecoming the alga means pain. Symptoms of nostalgia among Swiss soldiers included melancholy, malnutrition, sleepiness, brain fever, and hallucinations. Hofer's idea of nostalgia as an illness is the pain of not being able to go home. But home can be a place or a time or a person. Home can even be a version of yourself, a version you miss and would love to get back to. I joke that I can be nostalgic about a moment while it's happening. That might be the writer in me. Part of me is in the moment, and part of me is already thinking about it from a distance and seeking the language to write about it. Thanks to technology, I have nostalgia at my fingertips at any moment of any day. Shutterfly wants to show me what my life looked like 11 years ago today. Facebook wants to show me my memories over the years. My photo library on my phone offers up highlights and algorithmically selected moments from the past. My point is, if I wanted to forget about a time, a place, or a person, my devices won't let me look. There are my children on their first day of school several years ago. There's my son's grin with his front teeth missing. There's my daughter learning how to ride a bike. Today's poem beautifully captures the pain of distance, of longing, of wanting to be somewhere or with someone when you can't.
[02:56]
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Be.
[02:58]
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Nostalgia by Matthew Minicucci the worst part of it is that I've forgotten your face, or the idea that each tide was a slender finger pulling at these knots loose, and then left to work on another day lost at sea. Love is a logogram less than fewer still a word made nothing more than cotter mark on starboard hard port. I left all those years ago. Sometimes I dream of my own Sorry our own great rooted bed shaped from something still alive. Euryclea means broad fame and that's a sandy pit if you ask me. It's an island beautiful as a scarred oxen's back sewed with lash and eyes. I saw something of you the other day in this glass of magic vase filled with smoke's children. There's that dress you wore, I said to no one in particular. There's that blue that never bled to red wine dark in its never knocked arrow waves. And suddenly you're the moon again, lost in reflection sea. I follow the light to nowhere as I wander through the sipped sleeve because because you walked the stairs that night before I left after we heard the rain spill like grain from a split sack. You walked in front of me just above the cochineal stars bright bald ember fashioned still spear. I think of nothing else but you. It's true. It's the worst part of forgetting all this. Remembering 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 slowdown show and blueskylowdownshow.org hi, it's Maggie. The Slowdown helps you discover new poems and revisit old favorites. You can help us continue showcasing poetry from a diverse swath of authors by making a tax deductible gift. Head to slowdownshow.org donate today.