[encore] 442: Climbing China's Great Wall by Afaa M. Weaver

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily Episode: [Encore] 442: Climbing China's Great Wall by Afaa M. Weaver
Release Date: July 17, 2025
Host: Tracy K. Smith (Archive Episode)
Producer: American Public Media in partnership with The Poetry Foundation

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Introduction to the Episode

In this special encore episode of The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily, former host Tracy K. Smith revisits a poignant episode from her tenure. This archival broadcast transports listeners to China, where Smith reflects on her personal and poetic journey, culminating in the recitation of Afaa M. Weaver’s evocative poem, "Climbing China's Great Wall."

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Tracy K. Smith’s Journey to China

Timestamp: [01:25]

Tracy K. Smith begins by sharing her experiences visiting China in the spring of 2017. Her primary purpose was to translate the works of the acclaimed poet Yi Lei, marking her second in-person meeting with the poet. Smith reminisces about their first encounter three years prior in Manhattan, highlighting the transformation of their relationship from a distant admiration to a more intimate and genuine connection.

Notable Quote:

"Sometimes the artists you admire turn out to be people you like better from a distance and in the form of their work. But other times, your love of what they do is matched by your love of who they are and how they move through the world."
— Tracy K. Smith [01:25]

This reflection underscores the delicate balance between appreciating an artist's work and forming a personal bond with the artist themselves.

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The Encounter with Yi Lei

Timestamp: [02:15]

Smith recounts a memorable afternoon over tea in a bustling shopping district. Accompanied by Yi Lei and Yi’s niece, Smith experiences a rare moment of solitude with the poet. Without the usual linguistic barriers, facilitated solely by a translation app, the two engage in a fluid and unmediated conversation. This breakthrough moment was both revelatory and deeply connecting, allowing them to communicate beyond mere words.

Notable Quote:

"Being able to chat back and forth together practically unmediated felt like a revelation, like the barrier that had stood between us vanished."
— Tracy K. Smith [03:00]

This interaction highlights the profound impact of overcoming language barriers, fostering a deeper mutual understanding and connection.

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Climbing the Great Wall: A Poetic Expedition

Timestamp: [04:00]

The narrative shifts to Smith’s excursion to the Mu Tianyu section of the Great Wall. Despite the multitude of visitors, Smith describes the climb as feeling expansive and personal, as if the historic monument was theirs alone to explore. The physical ascent becomes a metaphorical journey, blending the tangible history of the Wall with the vibrant, living moment of the climb.

Notable Quote:

"I wanted to feel history under my feet, but really it was the living moment that enraptured me."
— Tracy K. Smith [04:30]

This sentiment encapsulates the essence of the episode: the intersection of past and present, history and lived experience.

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Afaa M. Weaver’s "Climbing China's Great Wall"

Timestamp: [05:00]

Transitioning seamlessly from narrative to poetry, Smith introduces and recites Afaa M. Weaver’s "Climbing China's Great Wall." The poem delves into themes of history, labor, nature, and personal reflection, painting a vivid picture of the Great Wall’s imposing presence and the myriad stories embedded within its stones.

Poem Excerpt:

"This wall is a great stairway.
Walls are things that shoot up, keep out
line the places where we mark the halls
that carry our names, the busts of this one and that one."
— Afaa M. Weaver, "Climbing China's Great Wall" [05:15]

Through rich imagery and contemplative language, Weaver invites listeners to ponder the multifaceted significance of the Great Wall—not just as a historical monument but as a living testament to human endeavor and resilience.

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Reflection and Connection

Following the recitation, Smith reflects on the poem's impact and its resonance with her own experiences. The climb symbolizes more than a physical journey; it represents an exploration of self, history, and the connections that bind individuals across cultures and time.

Notable Quote:

"The genuine language transcending love came across plainly enough, without words."
— Tracy K. Smith [05:45]

This reflection emphasizes the universal language of poetry and human connection, transcending spoken language and cultural barriers.

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Conclusion and Credits

The episode concludes with acknowledgments to American Public Media, The Poetry Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Listeners are encouraged to engage with the podcast through various platforms and support public media efforts.

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Final Thoughts

This encore episode of The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily masterfully intertwines personal narrative with poetic expression, offering a deeply reflective and engaging experience. Tracy K. Smith's exploration of her connection with Yi Lei and the evocative recitation of Afaa M. Weaver’s poem invite listeners to pause, reflect, and find meaning in the convergence of past and present, language and silence, history and personal journey.

For those who haven't had the pleasure of listening, this episode serves as a testament to the power of poetry in bridging divides and highlighting our shared human experiences.

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Transcript

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[Tracy K. Smith]

The slowdown is on a break right now, but we'll be back soon with a new host. In the meantime, we're bringing you some of the best episodes from our archives. Today we revisit an episode from Tracy K. Smith's time at the Helm. Enjoy.

I'm Tracy K. Smith, and this is the Slowdown. I visited China for the first time in the spring of 2017. It was a visit to the great poet Yi Lei, whose poems I'd been working to translate. It was my second time meeting Yi Lei in person. The first had been three years earlier, over lunch in Manhattan. Sometimes the artists you admire turn out to be people you like better from a distance and in the form of their work. But other times, your love of what they do is matched by your love of who they are and how they move through the world. I felt that way about Yi Lei, whose poems are large hearted, passionate, philosophical, and courageous. Her living spirit was just the same, and it was also funny and generous and inexhaustibly kind. Most everything Yi Lei and I said to one another, we said through someone else. Anytime we were together, there was at least one other person with us, intercepting our thoughts and carrying them from one language to the other. But one afternoon over tea in a shopping district where Yi Lei and her niece had taken me to buy gifts for my return home, we found ourselves momentarily alone. Yi Lei smiled at me, and I smiled back at her. Then she typed something into her phone and pushed it across the table over to me. The words appeared in English on the screen. It was just a simple translation app, but being able to chat back and forth together practically unmediated felt like a revelation, like the barrier that had stood between us vanished. What did we take the opportunity to finally say? Is it terrible to admit I can't remember? Small things, probably, trivialities. The big thing that connected us, the genuine language transcending love, came across plainly enough, without words. That was the trip when we visited the Mu Tianyu section of the Great Wall. It was a bright, clear, warm day. There were plenty of visitors all around, but our climb up and down the thousand steep steps felt spacious somehow, as if we had the sight to ourselves. I gawked happily at trees and mountains, stones and birds. I wanted to feel history under my feet, but really it was the living moment that enraptured me. Today's poem is Climbing China's Great Wall by Offa M. Weaver this wall is a great stairway. Walls are things that shoot up, keep out line the places where we mark the halls that carry our names, the busts of this one and that one. This history is in the hard labor of hearts, thrusts of piston and valve. I sit down at the first house, dizzy at the view over the wall, the tourist town below us, and buildings made old by the deliberate hand of business. Not the rain, the sun, the untold billions of raindrops and teardrops of soldiers wishing for the lovers they left behind, untended crops, mothers weaving braids of grief in their hair. A little old woman bounces past me, leaping the brief weld of stone to stone, the stairs, the legend and skeleton of the wall where white cranes dance in pairs.

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 [e-mail] 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].

[Maika]

Hi everyone, it's Maika, 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.