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The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

1069: An Exchange by Corey Marks

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

American Public Media

Arts, Performing Arts

4.81.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2024

⏱️ 6 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today’s poem is An Exchange by Corey Marks.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “After a decade and a half of living in Vermont, one morning I thought, “Road signs all over the state and still no sighting of a moose?” Then, one morning, a large four-legged bulk of an animal appeared at the edge of a clearing along the road. I saw it from a distance as I rounded an ascending curve on Route 125. I slowed to a stop, and looked it over. We were eye-to-eye. It was massive and serene. For a long while, I thought the encounter improbable, but here I was: suspended in the moment, expecting transcendence of some kind, some boundless wisdom on a forested path to myself.”


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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I'm Major Jackson and this is the slowdown.

0:05.0

And this is the slowdown.

0:27.1

After a decade and a half of living in Vermont, one morning I thought, road signs all over the state and still no sighting of a Moose. Those beware of moose signs kept me on the lookout, especially when driving at night.

0:40.4

One of my favorite poems, Elizabeth Bishop's The Moose,

0:45.0

affixed the idea that one loomed around every country road.

0:50.0

Through literature and popular culture, think Bullwinkle J Moose, I had been primed to see the 600 pound animal in my sleep.

1:01.0

Sadly, not even there. I believe the antler creature a myth on par with Vermont's lake monster,

1:09.5

Champ, a giant serpentine creature claimed to have been seen by over 300 people since the 17th century.

1:18.0

Then, one morning, on my way to hear a friend give a reading at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference,

1:27.0

a large four-legged bulk of an animal appeared at the edge of a clearing along the road. I saw it from a distance as I

1:36.9

rounded an ascending curve on Route 125. I slowed to a stop and looked it over. We were eye to eye. It was massive and

1:49.8

serene. Window rolled down. I sniffed, as Bishop put it, for the dim smell of Moose.

1:58.8

The Moose watched me with faint interest,

2:03.7

looked down the road then back at me.

2:07.0

For a long while, I thought the encounter improbable,

2:10.6

but here I was, suspended in the moment, expecting transcendence of some kind,

2:16.9

some boundless wisdom on a forested path to myself.

2:28.4

Isn't that what we tell ourselves that the silent dialogue with the great outdoors and its inhabitants will lead us to some visceral connection to the world and deepen our place in it,

2:36.5

always something outside of us and never within. I felt a sense of glee, even as I overly romanticized and made more of the

2:48.8

encounter than it deserved. The Moose cocked it seers and turned into the forested path.

2:56.0

I continued up the road to a theater full of writers.

3:09.2

Today's poem reminds me to avoid idealizing nature even if I wish to hold it, believing the experience will someday in bed in my body.

...

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