[encore] 278: Thanks by W.S. Merwin

Summary

Summary of "The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily" – Episode 278: Thanks by W.S. Merwin

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Introduction to the Episode

In this encore presentation of Episode 278, titled "Thanks by W.S. Merwin," The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily revisits a poignant exploration of gratitude amidst a world fraught with challenges. Originally released on August 6, 2025, this episode features the esteemed poet Tracy K. Smith, who delves deep into the nuanced emotions surrounding thankfulness in the face of adversity.

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Host’s Reflection: Gratitude Amidst Struggle

Tracy K. Smith opens the episode with a heartfelt meditation on gratitude, acknowledging both the blessings and the inherent struggles present in life. Starting at [00:30], Smith articulates her appreciation for personal joys such as health, home, love, and friendship. She thoughtfully expands this gratitude to encompass not only personal successes but also the hardships that have shaped her journey.

Key Quote:

“I’m grateful for the failures I’ve endured and what they’ve taught me.” [02:10]

Here, Smith emphasizes the importance of recognizing the lessons learned from setbacks, highlighting how adversity contributes to personal growth.

She then broadens her reflection to include global and environmental concerns, questioning the feasibility of maintaining gratitude amidst widespread suffering and ecological degradation.

Key Quote:

“How can I look at my own children, knowing that the everyday habits of lives like mine are unsustainable, that they’ve wrought irreversible havoc upon a not distant future.” [04:20]

This introspective question underscores the tension between personal thankfulness and collective responsibility, illustrating the complexity of expressing gratitude in a troubled world.

Smith acknowledges her own culpability in broader societal issues but contemplates the difficulty of integrating such acknowledgment into expressions of thanks. She praises the late W.S. Merwin for his ability to intertwine feelings of guilt, anger, and shame with gratitude, thereby painting a comprehensive and honest portrait of life.

Key Insight:

“It takes a wise and gifted poet to marry those two disparate perspectives to create a panoramic portrait of life that allows guilt and anger and shame to occupy the very same space as gratitude.” [04:50]

This statement sets the stage for the poem "Thanks," highlighting Merwin's unique ability to balance conflicting emotions within his work.

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Featured Poem: Thanks by W.S. Merwin

The centerpiece of the episode is W.S. Merwin’s Thanks, a powerful poem that exemplifies the coexistence of gratitude and moral reckoning. Smith introduces the poem, emphasizing its courageous stance in demanding acknowledgment of global and personal failings while simultaneously expressing thankfulness.

Throughout the recitation, recurring themes of environmental degradation, societal violence, and personal loss are interwoven with acts of gratitude. Merwin’s verses capture moments of spontaneous thanks in various settings, juxtaposing everyday routines with the underlying turmoil of the modern world.

Notable Verses:

“We are saying thank you
We are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
We are running out of the glass rooms with our mouths full of food
To look at the sky and say thank you.” [03:15]

These lines illustrate the simplicity and profundity of expressing gratitude even amidst chaos, highlighting the poet’s skill in finding balance between despair and appreciation.

“We are saying thank you
With the forests falling faster than the minutes of our lives
We are saying thank you
With the cities growing over us
We are saying thank you faster and faster
With nobody listening” [04:05]

Here, Merwin poignantly addresses the accelerated pace of environmental destruction and urbanization, contrasting it with the diminishing resonance of their effects, yet maintaining an unwavering commitment to gratitude.

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Conclusion

Tracy K. Smith’s thoughtful introduction and analysis of W.S. Merwin’s Thanks offer listeners a profound exploration of gratitude's multifaceted nature. By juxtaposing personal thankfulness with broader societal and environmental concerns, Smith and Merwin invite introspection on how to sustain appreciation in a world marked by significant challenges. This episode serves as a compelling reminder of the power of poetry to navigate and articulate complex emotional landscapes.

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Additional Information

Produced by APM Studios in partnership with The Poetry Foundation and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily continues to provide a daily sanctuary for poetry enthusiasts. Listeners are encouraged to explore the back catalog, featuring contributions from renowned poets such as Tracy K. Smith, Ada Limón, Jenny Xie, Brenda Shaughnessy, Tina Chang, Nate Marshall, Shira Erlichiman, and Jason Schneiderman.

For daily poetic inspiration, visit slowdownshow.org and subscribe to the newsletter to receive a poem each day.

Transcript

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[Tracy K. Smith]

Hi, I'm Maggie Smith, new host of the Slowdown. As we get ready to launch the new season on August 18, we are revisiting some gems from the archive. Today's episode comes from Tracy K. Smith, who helped build this beautiful space for poetry and reflection. I'm Tracy K. Smith, and this is the Slowdown. I'm grateful for my health and my home, for the love and friendship in my life. I'm grateful for free time and for beauty, all the goodness I can see and claim. But there's far more than goodness and pleasure in my life. And in every life. There's struggle, there's hard work. But I'm grateful for that, too. I'm grateful for the failures I've endured and what they've taught me. I'm grateful to have lost the things that have led me to the life that's now mine. But could I follow that perspective a step further? Am I grateful for this world filled with war, with rage, with waste and greed? It would be a lie to say that I'm not, despite all of that, as it would be a lie to believe myself innocent of wrong. Sunday night we'll drag boxes out to the curb for recycling evidence of all we consume and the long and costly routes these inessential goods travel before landing. For a time in our life, I fly, I drive. How can I look out at the trees and birds? How can I look at my own children, knowing that the everyday habits of lives like mine are unsustainable, that they've wrought irreversible havoc upon a not distant future. I can accept my own culpability, but it's hard to bring that acknowledgment into the vocabulary of thanks. It takes a wise and gifted poet to marry those two disparate perspectives to create a panoramic portrait of life that allows guilt and anger and shame to occupy the very same space as gratitude. I believe the late W.S. merwin was such a poet. Reading his poem thanks takes courage because it insists upon a fierce form of moral reckoning thanks by W.S. merwin Listen with the night falling we are saying thank you we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings we are running out of the glass rooms with our mouths full of food to look at the sky and say thank you. We are standing by the water thanking it Standing by the windows Looking out in our directions Back from a series of hospitals Back from a mugging after funerals we are saying thank you after the news of the dead whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you over telephones we are saying thank you in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators Remembering wars and the police at the door and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you in the banks we are saying thank you in the faces of the officials and the rich and of all who will never change we go on saying thank you thank you with the animals dying around us taking our feelings we are saying thank you with the forests falling faster than the minutes of our lives we are saying thank you with the words going out like cells of a brain with the cities growing over us we are saying thank you faster and faster with nobody listening we are saying thank you, thank you we are saying and waving Dark though it is the Slowdown is a production of American Public Media in partnership with with the Poetry Foundation. To get a poem delivered to you daily, go to slowdownshow.org and sign up for our newsletter.

[Micah]

Hi everyone, it's Micah, lead producer of the Slowdown. I want to take a minute to talk to you about public media. You may have heard about federal budget cuts and other threats to public media, but what you might not know is that the Slowdown is actually part of the public media ecosystem. If you want to protect your favorite public media podcasts like this one, visit americanpublicmedia.org action to learn how you can help.