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🗓️ 12 August 2022
⏱️ 6 minutes
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Today’s poem is Cherry Blossoms by Toi Derricotte.
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0:00.0 | I'm Adely Mama and this is The Slowdown. |
0:18.8 | I have always loved it when people gather around or flock to a specific natural event. |
0:25.8 | It feels like a pilgrimage to something that's important. |
0:29.9 | I love hearing stories of people in New Mexico gathering around to see the blossoms of the |
0:36.0 | night blooming serious or La rena de la noche. |
0:40.4 | And I've never seen the super bloom in the Anzaberego desert, but I'd trek there in a heartbeat |
0:46.8 | to see the wonder of colors that covers those soft rolling hills near my father's home. |
0:53.8 | And then there's the sky too. |
0:56.1 | Some meteor showers will bring onlookers to the best viewing spots to watch the glittering |
1:01.5 | event that lights up the night sky. |
1:04.8 | It feels like something we are all in together. |
1:08.7 | Even as divided as the country feels right now, there are the solar eclipses, the moon waxing |
1:15.2 | and waning, stars, the path of the planets. |
1:19.4 | And I can't help but think, okay, we're all under the same celestial event whether we're |
1:24.8 | watching it or not. |
1:26.8 | It may not bring us closer, but it does remind me that we all exist on the same planet, |
1:32.7 | at least for the time being. |
1:36.5 | When I was in college, there was a grove of cherry trees in the middle of the quad. |
1:42.0 | When it was cherry blossom season, everyone would flock to see them in their full fecundity. |
1:48.0 | The air was alive with floating pink petals and people would fill the parking lot and |
1:53.2 | unload their camera gear and their pretty dresses and make their way to the scene as if |
1:58.6 | it was Shakespeare in the park. |
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