1325: Flame by C.D. Wright

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

American Public Media

Arts, Performing Arts

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today’s poem is Flame by C.D. Wright.

Last week, our team attended the 2025 AWP Conference in Los Angeles. AWP is the Association of Writers and Writing Programs — the conference is an annual moment to gather together colleagues across the writer world. This week’s episodes include audio we recorded onsite, bringing together many voices, Slowdown style.

Today’s poem catalogs the chaos of disaster, forming a portrait of the speaker’s experience, minute observation by minute observation.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. 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	I'm Major Jackson, and this is the slowdown.
0:10.0	Last week, our team attended the 2025 AWP conference in Los Angeles.
0:27.3	AWP is the Association of Writers and Writing Programs.
0:32.1	The conference is an annual moment to gather together colleagues across the writer world.
0:38.3	This week's episodes include audio we recorded on-site, bringing together many voices,
0:45.3	slowdown style.
0:50.3	Last week, the slowdown team gathered with writers and folks from the writing world in Los Angeles.
0:57.2	This came only three months after catastrophic fires affecting thousands of Angelinos,
1:03.4	including many in our poetry community.
1:07.2	Today's poem catalogs the chaos of disaster, forming a portrait of the speaker's experience.
1:14.4	Minute observation by minute observation.
1:19.6	Flame by CD Wright.
1:23.5	The breath, the trees, the bridge.
1:30.5	The road, the rain, the sheen.
1:34.2	The breath, the line, the skin.
1:37.5	The vineyard, the fences, the leg.
1:41.3	The water, the breath, the shift.
1:48.2	The hair, the wheels, the shoulder. The breath, the lane, the streak, the lining, the hour, the reasons, the name, the distance, the breath, the scent, the scent,
1:57.8	the dogs, the blear, the lungs, the breath, the glove.
2:03.6	The signal, the turn, the need.
2:07.6	The steps, the lights, the door.
2:10.6	The mouth, the tongue, the eyes, the burn, the burned, the burning.
	...

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.