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Refreshers contain caffeine. I'm Maggie Smith, and this is the Slow down. There's a very specific pleasure in doing things alone. Going to the movies by yourself, sitting in the dark with your own drink and popcorn or candy that you don't have to share, and sitting anywhere you want in the theater without asking a companion where they want to sit, or having a meal on your own. Party of one. Just people watching and enjoying the ambiance without the need to make conversation. I never did either of those things when I was young. I'm sure I would have felt uncomfortable being being solo in public like that. When everyone else had dates or was in groups, I probably would have worried about appearing friendless, like, what's wrong with her? Now that I'm older, though, I care less about what strangers think of me. And besides, I travel solo so often these days for book events or to give talks or to teach. Many times a year I find myself alone in another city, and if I don't have friends to share a meal with while I'm in town, I order room service or take myself out. A book is plenty to keep me occupied at a restaurant when I'm by myself. Or, let's be real, my phone. While I eat, I can half read and half eavesdrop on the people around me. Dates that don't seem to be going well, business meetings with a lot of corporate jargon, or friends sharing inside jokes and laughing until they cry. I'm not really alone after all. I'm in public. Today's poem captures the experience of dining alone so beautifully. The tinge of loneliness, but also the cast of characters all around the speaker. It makes me want to take myself out to dinner. The New City by Hue Min Nguyen in one motion, as if not to draw too much attention to my loneliness, the server swiftly clears the extra plate setting and leaves in its place a single menu. I'm not from here, I confess, to absolve my solitude from the seat it occupies to suggest. Also, regardless if it's true that somewhere else there would be someone else, but here it's just a book I use to hide between bites, in which the protagonist discovers you can spend your whole life in a little blue suit and still be wrong about what the world sees when it looks at you. By the time I finish my meal, the office buildings have all emptied into the pubs around downtown. Sometimes I look up from my life and discover the world, undeterred by my hiding, has found me. The lawyers chain smoke on the patio in a corner booth. The day nurses suck helium from pink balloons. Someone is sitting alone at a high top in a pencil skirt. Someone is making their way through the bar, coat tucked under an arm, a drink in each hand. 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 lowdownshow and blueskylowdownshow.org Foreign. Hi, it's Maggie. Thanks for listening to the Slowdown. Whether you press play to find calm or vivid inspiration, we're glad you're here. As a public media podcast, we rely on listener support to to share these moments of poetry. Please consider donating today@slowdownshow.org donate.
Episode 1520: "The New City" by Hieu Minh Nguyen
Host: Maggie Smith
Air Date: May 21, 2026
In this reflective episode, host Maggie Smith introduces and contemplates the experience of solitude—particularly the nuanced, often-overlooked act of dining alone in public spaces. Through her own anecdotes and by sharing the poem "The New City" by Hieu Minh Nguyen, Maggie explores loneliness, self-consciousness, and the surprising sense of community and connection found even when one is physically alone. The episode invites listeners to consider the attention poetry brings to both our internal lives and the world around us.
Maggie introduces the poem by noting its tender portrayal of solo dining—the touch of loneliness it carries, yet the vibrancy of the world moving around the speaker.
Vivid Scene of Solitude:
"In one motion, as if not to draw too much attention to my loneliness, the server swiftly clears the extra plate setting and leaves in its place a single menu.
I'm not from here, I confess, to absolve my solitude from the seat it occupies..."
Universal Longing and Disguise:
"...that somewhere else there would be someone else, but here it’s just a book I use to hide between bites,
in which the protagonist discovers you can spend your whole life in a little blue suit and still be wrong about what the world sees when it looks at you."
Observation of Others & Connection:
"By the time I finish my meal, the office buildings have all emptied into the pubs around downtown...
The lawyers chain smoke on the patio in a corner booth.
The day nurses suck helium from pink balloons.
Someone is sitting alone at a high top in a pencil skirt.
Someone is making their way through the bar, coat tucked under an arm, a drink in each hand."
This episode of The Slowdown gently nudges listeners to see everyday acts—like eating alone—not as experiences of isolation, but as opportunities for quiet observation, introspection, and connection to the broader world. Through Maggie Smith’s candid storytelling and the evocative poem by Hieu Minh Nguyen, the episode brings solace and dignifies the inner life of anyone who’s ever sat solo in a crowded room.