1568: Panegyric by Leila Farjami

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Episode 1568: Panegyric by Leila Farjami

Host: Maggie Smith
Date: July 28, 2026

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Overview

This episode of The Slowdown, hosted by poet Maggie Smith, centers on the role of poetry during times of collective grief, war, and loss. Maggie explores how poems reach beyond the communicative limits of ordinary language, offering solace and depth where facts fall short. The episode features Leila Farjami's haunting poem, "Panegyric," which confronts the power and limitations of poetry in witnessing and memorializing violence, destruction, and personal loss.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Unique Role of Poetry in Crisis

[01:00–03:15]

• Maggie Smith opens by reflecting on the power of poetry to say "the unsayable," citing Marie Howe’s definition: "Poetry as a cup of language to hold what can't be said."
• She explains that poetry is often turned to during tragic times, such as funerals or after disasters, because regular language fails to express the immensity of grief or confusion.
• Smith contrasts the utilitarian function of daily language—used for appointments or ordering food—with the resonant, irreplaceable communication of poetry:
  • “If I want a sandwich, I order a sandwich. No metaphors involved. But poems are their own kind of communication.” [02:30]
• She asserts that poems engaging with themes like war and grief do what news articles cannot:
  • “An article might tell us what happened, who died, how many casualties there were... But a poem sings to us, a poem sits with us, holds us even.” [03:00]

Introducing "Panegyric" by Leila Farjami

[03:16]

• Maggie introduces today’s poem, highlighting that its speaker is wrestling with what a poem can actually do amid violence and destruction.
  • “In today's poem, the speaker grapples with what, in the face of so much violence and destruction, a poem can do.” [03:16]

Reading & Immediate Reflection

[03:25–05:00]

• Maggie Smith delivers a careful, affective reading of "Panegyric" by Leila Farjami. The poem’s voice is fractured by trauma, juxtaposing fragile images of lilies and hair with the visceral wreckage of war—"the bullet wound, the final bed, the funeral, the blaze that extolled you to ash."
• The poem builds a world where beauty and brutality collide, naming what is lost and what endures:
  • "I couldn't recall the day we fled, bodies dripping to the sea / I couldn't name the light snared in the trawl, the whale dragged ashore, those who stepped from its mouth, you, me, others still, and then this earth" [03:45]
  • "There should be a lily left in your hair, one I could wreathe into a poem… and there is." [04:55]

The Function of Poetry: Bearing Witness

• Through Farjami’s poem and Smith’s framing, the episode circles back to poetry’s power to make space for feeling and meaning when easy answers are unavailable, and to witness what should not be forgotten.
• The notion that poetry itself can be an act of hope and remembrance echoes throughout:
  • “One I could wreathe into a poem, one to tuck back into your braid, only one, and there is.” [04:55]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Maggie Smith: “Poetry, says the unsayable. Poet Marie Howe defines poetry as a cup of language to hold what can't be said.” [01:10]
• Maggie Smith: “A poem can't be paraphrased. The poem's meaning is the poem. It speaks to us and moves us in ways we might struggle to articulate.” [02:35]
• Maggie Smith (on poetry’s intimacy): “A poem sings to us, a poem sits with us, holds us even.” [03:00]
• Leila Farjami, “Panegyric”:
  • “If I didn't write of war, I couldn't speak of lilies, your hair, the bullet wound, the final bed, the funeral, the blaze that extolled you to ash, the rumble, the rubble, the shape of your hand before hands existed.” [03:30]
  • “There should be a lily left in your hair, one I could wreathe into a poem... and there is.” [04:55]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:00 – Maggie Smith on poetry’s purpose and capacity in moments of grief.
• 02:30 – Contrast between plainspoken speech and poetic communication.
• 03:00 – On how poetry “holds us” in ways news cannot.
• 03:25 – Introduction to Farjami’s poem and its theme.
• 03:30–05:00 – Reading of “Panegyric” and the central imagery of the poem.

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Tone and Style

The tone is gentle, contemplative, and quietly urgent. Maggie Smith speaks with the measured sensitivity characteristic of The Slowdown, honoring the emotional depth of both the poem and its subject matter. The poem’s language is direct and reverent, threading together images of violence and memory with elemental beauty.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Maggie Smith invites us to reflect on poetry’s unique role as a vessel for the unspeakable, especially in times of collective and private anguish. By sharing Leila Farjami’s “Panegyric,” the episode offers listeners a way to bear witness, to mourn, and to hold onto what is lost and what survives—even if "only one lily remains." For anyone seeking understanding or comfort amid turmoil, this episode demonstrates how poetry stands as both a testimony and balm.

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Transcript

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Foreign. I'm Maggie Smith and this is the Slowdown. One of the best arguments for what poetry can do, what it's for, how it can serve us, is that poetry, says the unsayable. Poet Marie Howe defines poetry as a cup of language to hold what can't be said. Poems are so often read at funerals or after tragedies because these are occasions when we are lost for words, when we are struggling to make sense of what feels senseless. The language of poetry is like a key in a door, and the door opens into a hidden room where more is possible, where more is felt than in our ordinary speech. Poetry exists in a place beyond the limits of our everyday, utilitarian language, which is meant to be clear and straightforward. If I need to make an appointment or ask for help or delegate a task, I'll be best served by communicating plainly and directly and with brevity. If I want a sandwich, I order a sandwich. No metaphors involved. But poems are their own kind of communication. Regardless of its style, a poem can't be paraphrased. The poem's meaning is the poem. It speaks to us and moves us in ways we might struggle to articulate. Poems that engage with war and grief are texts that communicate to us in ways that news articles about war and loss and grief cannot. An article might tell us what happened, who died, how many casualties there were. It should provide facts as to who, what, where, when, and how. It might even attempt the why. But a poem sings to us, a poem sits with us, holds us even. In today's poem, the speaker grapples with what, in the face of so much violence and destruction, a poem can do. Panegyric by Leila Farjami if I didn't write of war, I couldn't speak of lilies, your hair, the bullet wound, the final bed, the funeral, the blaze that extolled you to ash, the rumble, the rubble, the shape of your hand before hands existed. I couldn't recall the day we fled, bodies dripping to the sea I couldn't name the light snared in the trawl, the whale dragged ashore, those who stepped from its mouth, you, me, others still, and then this earth I couldn't bear its inferno, its soot, its deer in the clearing, antlers blackened and who could tame fires but the dead below, where a child, bone thin, laid beneath cypress roots. There should be no tomorrow, but there is no breakfast, no daylight, no touch, no 7pm at the table, no cake in the kitchen, but there is no neck on the altar, no blade wedded, no breadline slaughter, no baby blanket blown to shreds, but there is no butcher should grin at the lens, but he does, he does. There should be a lily left in your hair, one I could wreathe into a poem, one to tuck back into your braid, only one, and there is. 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. Find us on Instagram @downdownshow and [e-mail]. Maggie Here, host of the Slowdown Listening to and reading poetry helps us find our footing in an uncertain world, especially during challenging times. You can help keep these moments of poetry and reflection going by making a gift today. Visit slowdownshow.org donate.