1152: from "The Crystal Text" by Clark Coolidge

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

American Public Media

Arts, Performing Arts

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2024

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today’s poem is from "The Crystal Text" by Clark Coolidge.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Poetry negotiates that space between our inner life and the relational world we share with others. Magically, we make plain what we feel and observe to convey what some might call a soul. I often describe poetry as a mirror that reflects back our interiority. But today’s poem wonders if such perspective is even possible, given that we barely know who we are — making the enterprise of connection through art deeply indeterminate and delicate.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	As a public media podcast, the slowdown relies on donations from our community of listeners.
0:06.0	Contribute today to help power our show for episodes to come.
0:10.4	Visit slowdown Show.org
0:13.0	and thank you.
0:16.0	I'm Major Jackson and this is...
0:21.0	I'm Major Jackson and this is the slowdown. While slicing
0:36.2	Monserelle for a meal we were to share, my friend Eva made a remarkable statement,
0:42.0	one I've lived with for years.
0:45.0	She said, it is a miracle given our peculiarity,
0:50.0	our strangeness that we are able to connect with anyone at all.
0:55.2	Give it to Eva to say the thing that sounds humorous, compelling, and gloomy.
1:09.0	I mostly flowed in a fog of fragmentary thoughts. How is it possible, she went on, that we communicate and make sense to each other.
1:14.0	Somehow we coexist in a tenuous space of shared understanding and joy.
1:20.4	She and I laugh a lot. I joked, my fog meld frequently with her fog.
1:27.0	We are one big fog.
1:30.0	She laid white hockey pucks of cheese on a bed of Maranara.
1:35.0	Somehow, people can be both idiosyncratic and capable of communicating across the chasm of personal differences.
1:45.6	It is both one of life's wonders and one of its tragedies.
1:54.0	Poetry negotiates that space
1:56.0	between our inner life and the relational world we share with others.
2:01.0	Magically, we make plain what we feel and observe to convey what some might call a soul.
2:12.0	I often describe poetry as a mirror that reflects back our
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from American Public Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of American Public Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.