1572: Summer Strawberries by Cat Wei

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Slowdown – Episode 1572: "Summer Strawberries" by Cat Wei

Host: Maggie Smith
Date: August 3, 2026
Duration: ~5 minutes
Main Theme:
Exploring the bittersweet awareness of first and last experiences, the impermanence of treasured moments, and the grounding power of presence reflected through Cat Wei’s poem, “Summer Strawberries.”

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Episode Overview

Maggie Smith guides listeners through reflection on the nature of time and memory, drawing upon personal experience and poetic meditation. She introduces Cat Wei’s poem, “Summer Strawberries,” as a lens through which to consider themes of family, love, loss, tradition, and our ability to find meaning even in uncertainty.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Awareness of Beginnings and Endings (00:55 – 03:00)

• Maggie sets the stage by contrasting how humans vividly recognize “firsts” (first date, first kiss, first trip) while often missing the significance of “lasts” until they’ve become memory.

  • “When we do something for the first time, we know it... But often when we do something for the last time, we don't know it will be the last.” (Maggie Smith, 00:56)

• Retrospective realization: many final moments only reveal their significance long after they've passed, often noticed in photos or through reminiscence.

• She highlights the poignancy of moments when we do sense an ending—moving out of a childhood home, final family vacations, or a last day at work.

  • “On the other hand, sometimes we're acutely aware of the door shutting behind us... These are such poignant, bittersweet moments.” (Maggie Smith, 02:12)

The Burden and Gift of Impermanence (03:00 – 03:36)

• Maggie reflects on time’s passage as both a “gift and burden”—our awareness of mortality shapes both gratitude and fear.
  • “One of the gifts and burdens of being human is being aware of time and impermanence and our own mortality. That awareness keeps us grateful for what we have, but it can also make us fearful to lose what we have.” (Maggie Smith, 03:16)
• The episode pivots to question whether traditions and relationships will continue or fade—a tension felt in everyday life.

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Featured Poem: “Summer Strawberries” by Cat Wei (03:37 – 05:00)

• Maggie reads the poem aloud, delivering its emotional narrative in a gentle, reflective tone.

• Context: The poem centers on the speaker’s rare moment in the garden with her parents, evoking themes of family connection, heartbreak, the physical intimacy of picking strawberries, and anxiety over endings masked as ordinary moments.

• Notable Quotes from the Poem:

  • “This is the first time we've been together in the garden, mom, dad and I, since that one time in high school.”
    (Cat Wei, read by Maggie Smith, 03:38)
  • “This year the strawberries have bloomed in abundance, my mother says and my heart is full of strawberries.”
    (Cat Wei, 04:10)
  • “How many times I begin to think how many times will I still be here with them sifting slow heat in the grass not knowing which will be the time I didn't realize was the last.”
    (Cat Wei, 04:22)

• The poem closes with a deliberate effort to center herself in the present:

  • “I try not to go there Dirt on my hands I try to remember, feel what it is like to touch them.”
    (Cat Wei, 04:48)

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Reflection & Closure (05:00 – end)

• Maggie gently transitions from the poem, reiterating poetry’s role in helping listeners “find our footing in an uncertain world,” especially when faced with endings or changes.
• She invites listeners to engage with poetry as a daily act of self-care and wonder.

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Memorable Moments and Quotes

• Maggie on life’s unpredictability:
  “We move through life with so many doors opening and closing all around us.” (Maggie Smith, 02:08)
• On gratitude and presence:
  “But still, there are ways to find presence in the uncertainty.” (Maggie Smith, 03:31)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:55 – Maggie opens the reflection on “firsts” and “lasts”
• 02:12 – Recognition of poignant endings
• 03:16 – The paradox of awareness: gratitude and fear
• 03:37 – Introduction and reading of Cat Wei’s “Summer Strawberries”
• 04:22 – The poem’s contemplation of impermanence
• 04:48 – The poem’s return to presence and memory

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Tone & Presentation

• Maggie’s warm, contemplative delivery invites listeners to pause, reflect, and inhabit the present.
• The poetry is delivered with reverence, mirroring the gentle, bittersweet mood of both the discussion and text.

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Summary

“Summer Strawberries” and Maggie Smith’s reflections together frame a meditation on how life’s simple moments are often freighted with unknowable significance. The episode encourages listeners to pay close attention—to relish the sweetness of now, even as time’s passage casts a shadow of impermanence. For both poetry lovers and everyday listeners, it’s a gentle reminder to value presence and savor the abundance of the moment.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

I'm Maggie Smith and this is the Slowdown. When we do something for the first time, we know it. We might be cognizant of it in the moment, heart swelling with the emotional novelty of the first date, the first kiss, the first flight on an airplane, the first time holding your child, the first trip to a new place in the world. But often when we do something for the last time, we don't know it will be the last. Only in retrospect do we look back and realize that kiss was the last kiss, or that meal together was the last meal together, or that last visit to a loved one's home was the last time we'd be there. Only later, perhaps, looking at photos, do we see what we couldn't see in the moment, a closing of a door. On the other hand, sometimes we're acutely aware of the door shutting behind us. The last time you lock your door and leave your home before the moving van pulls away. The last summer vacation all together as a family, before a child goes off to college, the last day at a job when everyone knows you're not coming back. These are such poignant, bittersweet moments. Living in the present but already feeling those experiences, those people and places slipping into the past. We move through life with so many doors opening and closing all around us. One of the gifts and burdens of being human is being aware of time and impermanence and our own mortality. That awareness keeps us grateful for what we have, but it can also make us fearful to lose what we have. Sometimes, as we see in today's poem, it's difficult not to wonder if life will go on as expected and if traditions will continue, or if we are experiencing the end of an era. But still, there are ways to find presence in the uncertainty Summer Strawberries by Kat Way this is the first time we've been together in the garden, mom, dad and I, since that one time in high school. It is mid June, I am heartbroken and we are bent down in the grass picking the summer strawberries. I'd forgotten this is effort white noon brewing fingers moving dirt grass prints pressed to palm. This year the strawberries have bloomed in abundance, my mother says and my heart is full of strawberries. My lover has taken a bite of pierced sweet and open. This year my mother says we've had so many strawberries Filling me a Tupperware to go how many times I begin to think how many times will I still be here with them sifting slow heat in the grass not knowing which will be the time I didn't realize was the last. I try not to go there Dirt on my hands I try to remember, feel what it is like to touch them. 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 loadownshow and blueskylowdownshow.org Foreign. 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.