875: Olympians vs. Modernity
The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily
American Public Media
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2023
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s poem is Olympians vs. Modernity by Adelaide Sendlenski. This week’s episodes are for, and feature, young poets.
Adelaide, today’s co-host, is a dedicated tennis player. She’s so busy with school and sports that she writes poetry in the minutes between, thinking up lines while in motion. Today’s poem is one of her own, a poem which deftly connects the power of the Greek gods to the power we aim to claim through consumer culture.
We would love to hear your thoughts on these special episodes for young people. Please go to slowdownshow.org/survey to tell us what you think!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Major Jackson and this is The Slowdown. |
| 0:12.2 | This week we're doing something special. |
| 0:15.6 | We're exploring poetry in all its forms with kids who write, rhyme, and sing about their |
| 0:22.7 | lives. |
| 0:24.7 | Today's co-host is Adelaide. |
| 0:27.7 | She's 15 years old and a passionate tennis player. |
| 0:31.4 | She practices five days a week. |
| 0:35.6 | Besides being good with a racket, Adelaide has a way with words. |
| 0:40.8 | She's always writing. |
| 0:42.8 | Pretty much every chance she gets. |
| 0:45.5 | I write at school in the library on the bus between my violin lesson in school while |
| 0:55.3 | waiting for food. |
| 0:59.1 | She even writes during tennis practice. |
| 1:02.3 | I'm not quite sure what really makes tennis such like a lucrative place for ideas, but |
| 1:07.2 | I feel like it's something to do with like focusing on hitting the ball and like that your |
| 1:13.5 | mind actually kind of like becomes in sync with your body and then you get more ideas. |
| 1:20.3 | One of my favorite poems that she's written is all about tennis. |
| 1:24.1 | It's called Tuesday is for tennis players and it has an opening standard that is full |
| 1:30.1 | of delicious sounds. |
| 1:32.3 | My newly strong racket strings are taught, tenuous fibers reinforced. |
| 1:37.6 | The handle re-gripped, slashes through plumes of clay on the court. |
| 1:43.2 | I was curious to hear more about all the unusual places Adelaide discovers poetry, so I invited |
... |
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