Episode Overview

Podcast: The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily
Host: Maggie Smith
Episode: 1379: Arkansabop by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers
Date: October 22, 2025

In this episode, host Maggie Smith uses the arrival of fall as a lens to explore how music and poetry evoke place, memory, and mood. She reflects on the "soundtracks" of different seasons, before introducing and reading the poem "Arkansabop" by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers. The poem, musical and deeply rooted in Southern imagery, draws inspiration from both place and the music of Lucinda Williams—a musician whose work is strongly associated with the American South. Smith discusses the connection between poetry, music, family, and the evocative power of sensory experiences, setting up the poem as both song-like and vivid.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Emotional Geography of Music and Season (01:30–03:30)

• Maggie Smith opens by describing how certain songs and artists are tied to personal memories and specific times of year.
• She reflects on how music shifts with the seasons: "Summer is more bright, sunshiny pop, and fall is when it gets darker and colder so the music slows down and mellows out with the weather."
• Fall music, for her, includes albums by Neil Young, Son Volt, Bon Iver, and Iron & Wine—works "full of poetry," fitting the autumn mood.
• She invites listeners to explore these albums, emphasizing the poetic quality and their sensory associations: "It's the music of bonfire smoke and the crunch of leaves underfoot and a big orange moon rising over the houses." (02:45)

Summertime Sense Memories (03:30–04:10)

• Smith shifts to summer, describing it as "the sound of crickets and cicadas, the feeling of cold dew on your feet...the smell of mud and creek water and sunscreen."
• Lucinda Williams is highlighted as the quintessential "summer" artist due to her rich instrumentation and Southern imagery.

The Lucinda Williams Connection (04:10–05:05)

• Smith shares a personal tidbit: Lucinda Williams’ father, Miller Williams, was a poet and professor. The University of Arkansas even bestows a poetry prize in his honor, showing how "writing runs in the family."
• She draws a direct link between Williams’ music, the American South, and the poem featured in the episode.

Introducing "Arkansabop" (05:05–05:40)

• Smith frames the poem as "as imagistic and musical as a song, and it's deeply rooted in place."
• She notes the poem borrows a refrain from a Lucinda Williams song, highlighting the blending of musical and poetic traditions.

Poem: "Arkansabop" by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers (05:40–08:00)

Smith reads the poem, offering listeners an immersive experience in its Southern, atmospheric imagery.
Recurring refrain: "I would kiss the diamond back if I knew it would get me to heaven."

• The poem is saturated with sensory detail: burning leaves, refinery smells, rainwater, ozone, and "too much sex."
• Vividly rendered wildlife and domestic sights: mice "kicked through the oatmeal," "thonic roaches," "cats in a yowling match," neighbor Marilyn "chain smokes towards kingdom come behind these flowered curtains."
• The speaker seeks safety and transcendence, juxtaposing danger and desire, home and the wild: "Nowhere safe now but between the sheets."

Notable quote:

• "I ask out loud what in creation has inverted this hell on earth? Nowhere safe now but between the sheets." (06:45, Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers, read by Maggie Smith)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the feeling of fall music:
  "It's the music of bonfire smoke and the crunch of leaves underfoot and a big orange moon rising over the houses."
  — Maggie Smith (02:45)

• On the seasons and music’s mood:
  "Summer is more bright, sunshiny pop, and fall is when it gets darker and colder so the music slows down and mellows out with the weather."
  — Maggie Smith (03:10)

• On Lucinda Williams’ family legacy:
  "Fun fact about Lucinda Williams: her father was the poet and literature professor Miller Williams. There's an annual poetry book prize named for him at the University of Arkansas, where he last taught—so writing runs in the family."
  — Maggie Smith (04:45)

• On the poem’s refrain:
  "I would kiss the diamond back if I knew it would get me to heaven."
  — Repeated throughout "Arkansabop" (06:10, 07:00, 07:50)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:30–02:45 — Maggie Smith reflects on the link between music, seasons, and memory
• 03:10–03:30 — Description of her own fall music playlist
• 03:50–04:15 — Sensory and musical associations with summer
• 04:10–05:05 — Lucinda Williams’ musical and poetic lineage
• 05:05–05:40 — Introduction to "Arkansabop" and its connection to Lucinda Williams
• 05:40–08:00 — Full reading of "Arkansabop" by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers
• 06:10, 07:00, 07:50 — Refrain: "I would kiss the diamond back if I knew it would get me to heaven."

Summary & Takeaways

This episode intertwines music, season, memory, and poetry, illustrating how art helps us anchor ourselves in the world and navigate our emotions. Maggie Smith’s reflections and Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers’ poem together become an evocative meditation on place, longing, and the sensory textures of life in the American South. In drawing connections between Lucinda Williams' music and the imagery of "Arkansabop", the episode highlights how poetry and song both root us—and transport us—through memory and imagination.