Transcript
Unnamed Speaker (0:01)
It had to be you.
Major Jackson (0:03)
Dang, you're not supposed to sound that good at karaoke.
Unnamed Speaker (0:06)
You've just only heard me sing all stuffed up with nasal polyps. But now I'm on this medicine and breathing better. So this is me with less congestion.
Unnamed Speaker (0:13)
Dupixent Dupilumab is an add on prescription maintenance treatment for uncontrolled chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps in adults and children 12 years and up. It can help shrink your nasal polyps so you can breathe better with less congestion. Plus, it's an alternative to surgery.
Unnamed Speaker (0:27)
Oh, this is your song.
Major Jackson (0:29)
Wish I was singing.
Unnamed Speaker (0:30)
After congested you severe newer allergic reactions can occur. Get help right away for face, mouth, tongue or throat swelling, wheezing or trouble breathing. Tell your doctor right away of signs of inflamed blood vessels like rash, chest pain, worsening, shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in limbs. Tell your doctor of new or worsening eye problems like eye pain or vision changes, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection or asthma. Don't change or stop steroid asthma or other treatments without talking to your doctor.
Unnamed Speaker (0:53)
Do more with less nasal polyps. Ask your doctor about DUPIXENT.
Unnamed Speaker (0:56)
Learn more@dupixent.com or call 1-844-dupixent.
Major Jackson (1:06)
I'm Major Jackson, and this is the Slowdown. Publishing a book is a big deal. I love to shout out such wins. I recently expressed my excitement to a friend about seeing their poetry collection in the window of a favorite bookstore of mine. They shrugged their shoulders. They said they could not celebrate while observing so much pain and division in the world. This past year, armed conflicts and electoral rhetoric swallowed up any sense of joy and purpose. This fall, I attended several book festivals. Some authors acknowledged wars on multiple continents and others did not, which is their choice. Some privately complained about widespread indifference among attendees, and others thought the occasion was co opted by political posturing. What is utterly complicated about our moment is the widening circle of sorrow. The encompassing feeling that something is not right in the world, to name it, causes rancor among family and, quite possibly, condemnation from friends. Then again, much of the world goes on with this business continues unabated. The barista makes coffee, the bus driver stops along a route, and we board. A professor lectures on the history of empire. Many carry grief inside of them, and others have a passing thought about hostages and the large toll on human life in countries thousands of miles away. Poetry holds that place of both awakening and frustration, a perseverance against unimaginable violence and the flight away from the pains of our fragile world. Someday the bombs will stop falling. Someday the rhetoric of hatred will not have an audience. Isn't this something that we all should work toward until then? So says the speaker in today's poem, we must find a way to restore ourselves to a place of harmonious connection with and belief in all life. A Garden and a Street By Teresa Caterpillar where in my body do I feel peace? The meditation leader wants to know, and I scanned my mind, trying to remember the Japanese white stone garden raked in concentric circles around smooth, dark boulders, no human footprint visible, as if some spirit had descended from the sky to rake before dawn. Instead I see a street of rubble from bombed out buildings, jagged hunks of concrete blocking the way, bits of bloodied cloth snagged on top like flags. Can I use my breath to unclench, my mind returning to the white stones, letting go of fear and my attachment to the suffering of the world? He asks. And I say, I don't know if I find peace in the white stones of the garden, but don't clean up the rubble of the street. What good is my mind? The Slowdown is a production of American Public Media in partnership with the Poetry Foundation. This project is also supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. On the web@arts.gov to get a poem delivered to you daily, go to slowdownshow.org and sign up for our newsletter. Find us on Instagram Slowdown Show Give your loved ones the gift of poetry this year with Poetry Magazine. Poetry's gift bundle includes a one year print and digital subscription to the magazine, plus a limited edition tote bag. Your loved ones will receive 10 beautifully curated volumes of contemporary poetry and unlimited digital access through the Poetry Magazine app. It's a gift that lasts all year. Subscribe today@poetrymagazine.org slow that's poetrymagazine.org slow.