825: Hotter Than July

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

American Public Media

Arts, Performing Arts

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2023

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s poem is Hotter Than July by DaMaris B. Hill. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “I love my aging body because it is a living record of my growth. It holds all the history of my feelings and perceptions. When I hear music and begin to unselfconsciously dance, that’s my body calibrating once again, tuning. Do I wish to return my body to its former state? Yes, I guess I do, which is why I bike and walk frequently, to bring me closer. But ultimately, I love my body against all the messages from outside that I should not. It’s the only body I have to love.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Major Jackson and this is the Slow Down.
0:20.3	Last week, sprinting behind a UPS truck after a missed package delivery, I stopped after
0:27.1	about 80 yards.
0:29.1	I coughed and caught my breath.
0:32.6	The driver turned the corner and was off to their next home.
0:37.4	Meanwhile, my lungs burned a little fire behind my ribs and my legs ached right to the
0:43.7	bone.
0:45.0	I longed for the speed and stamina of my youth.
0:48.2	Back when it seemed, I could have trawled that truck for at least another 20 blocks and
0:52.9	caught up with it, possessing boundless energy and strength.
0:58.0	But still, and this is going to sound counterintuitive.
1:04.2	I'd love my aging body.
1:08.0	More than books in school learning, my body was how I came to know the world around me,
1:14.2	through movement, like dancing, and playing sports.
1:18.6	I treasured my body, the way Tony Morrison's character Baby Shug instructs in that famous
1:25.5	scene in her novel Beloved.
1:29.0	She urges the enslaved peoples to love their flesh, love their limbs, love their hands,
1:36.5	and their mouths, because, quote, yonder, they do not love, they despise it, they don't
1:45.0	love your eyes.
1:48.5	I love my aging body because it is a living record of my growth.
1:54.0	It holds all the history of my feelings and perceptions.
1:58.6	When I hear music and begin to unself-consciously dance, that's my body calibrating once again,
	...

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