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- [00:01]
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- [01:06]
Major Jackson
I'm Major Jackson and this is the Slowdown. Dear Listener, with great honor and pride, I am announcing that my last episode as host was will release on April 11, 2025. Since 2018, the slowdown has been a part of your daily ritual and listening routine. We will be back with a new host very soon. Until then, the Slowdown team will share episodes from the archive going back to the very beginning. From its initial launch, the Slowdown has remained a consistent space to reflect, to remain present even as the world rapidly changed around us. Now, more than ever, the Slowdown will continue to be an instrument of compassion. We will continue to cultivate a deep appreciation for the richness of our humanity, for the many voices and perspectives that enliven and give shape to our communities. Each week I felt like the friend who walked into your home with an armful of gifts. I love how poetry has us adjust to each other, how we make room inside ourselves for the words of our neighbors near and far. I want to thank you for listening to my meditations and my stories, and even more for writing us at the Slowdown. Whenever a poem or reflection moved you through poetry, we flex a spiritual muscle that bolsters our resilience and fortitude. I want to thank those poets whose gifts and passion for language is nothing less than inspiring and uplifting. I have tremendous hope for our future, as do the brilliant team of producers and editors and executives of the Slowdown. They work hard to bring light to our world. I want to especially shout out Dear Micah Kilbon, Maria Wartel, James Napoli, and our many interns serving as host of the Slowdown and your colleague ranks among the greatest honors of my life as a poet and citizen of our beloved community and to Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith, thank you enormously for the opportunity to steward poetry each morning into the lives of many. I am signing off, but you'll hear more exciting news ahead. For now I will be off to make soup and to take long bike rides.
- [04:07]
Poet or Narrator
Today's poem is one of Major's own A chorus of relished realities brought to you in a chorus of voices. Why I Write Poetry by Major Jackson.
- [04:22]
Major Jackson
Because my son is as old as the stars.
- [04:25]
Poet or Narrator
Because I have no blessings. Because I hold tangerines like orange tennis balls. Because I sit alone and welcome morning across the unshaved jaws of my lawn. Because the houses on my street sleep like turtles. Because the proper weight of beauty was her eyes last night beneath my eyes. Because the red goblet from which I drank made even water a Faustian toast. Because radishes should be banned, little pellets that they are.
- [04:56]
Major Jackson
Because someone says it's late and begins to rise from a chair. Because a single drop of rain is hope for the thirsty. Because life is ordinary unless you plan and set in motion a war. Because I have not thanked enough. Because my lips moisten whenever I hear Mingus, goodbye pork pie hat.
- [05:15]
Poet or Narrator
Because I've said the word dumb too many times in my life. Because I plant winter vegetables in July. Because I could say the morning died like candle wax and no one would question its truth. Because I relished being sent into the coat room in third grade where alone I would turn off the light and run my hands over my classmates coats as if playing tag with their bodies. Because once I shoplifted a pair of Hawaiian shorts and was caught at the gallery mall.
- [05:46]
Major Jackson
Because soup reminds me of the warmth.
- [05:48]
Poet or Narrator
Of my grandmother and old aunts. Because the long coast of my dreams is filled with saxophones and poems. Because somewhere someone is buying a Rolex or a Piaget. Because I wish I could speak three different languages but I have to settle for the language of business and commerce. Because I used to wear paisley shirts and herringbone sports jackets. Because I better get in my soul. Because my grandfather loved clean syntax cologne, Stacy Adams shoes, Irish tweed caps and women, but not necessarily in that order. Because I think the elderly are sexy and the young are naive and brutish. Because a vision of trees only comes to wise women and men who can fix old watches. Because I write with a pen whose supply of ink comes from the sea. Because gardens are fun to visit in the evenings when everyone has put away their coats and swords. Because I still do not eat coffee, corporate french fries or rhubarb jam because punctuation is my jury and the moon is my judge. Because my best friend in the fourth grade chased city buses from corner to corner because his cousin's father could not stop looking up at the sky after his return from the war because parataxis is just another way of making ends meet.
- [07:17]
Major Jackson
Because I have been on a steady.
- [07:19]
Poet or Narrator
Diet of words since the age of three.
- [07:30]
Major Jackson
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. And find us on Instagram at slowdownshow and blueskylowdownshow.org Special thanks to Alex Dawson.
- [08:09]
Poet or Narrator
Emmy Newman Ayelet Amitai Heather Franklin Land.
- [08:14]
Major Jackson
James Monahan Sean Felix Carl Hman Abby.
- [08:18]
Poet or Narrator
Walthausen A. Carrie Maul Garrett Karai Meher Munda Anna Goodman Herrick Heidi Seaborn Eric Dois Pamela Gem Nina Suaker Jody Hodle this Old House has been America's most trusted source for all things DIY and home improvement decades. And now we're on the radio and on demand. But this isn't just another home improvement show. It's all about craftsmanship, expertise and the stories our homes tell. Subscribe to this Old House radio hour from LAS Studios and APM starting March 25th. Wherever you get your podcasts.