Hi, it's Slowdown producer Micah. Winter is here, and it's the perfect time to pause, reflect, and slow down.

Thank you for making our podcast part of your life today and year round.

As a public media podcast, we rely on support from listeners like you to share these moments of poetry.

Show your support by making a gift today.

Visit slowdownshow.org slash donate or find the link in the show notes.

Thank you.

I'm Major Jackson, and this is the slowdown.

Long ago, I knew I needed a new conception of heaven.

The one with pearly white gates and winged angels from my youth in church just wasn't working

for me.

I mean, I get clouds and blue skies as symbols of ascension from earthly plains.

And it wasn't just in church.

Heaven was everywhere, in museums, and in movies too.

But those early images lodged into my subconscious weren't inclusive or realistic,

except for the 1936 Hollywood classic green pastures.

I'd like the idea of heaven.

That is, paradise imagined.

It is low-key political.

And I think we should conceptualize our notions of heaven,

one that is secular and functional. As Belinda Carlisle sang in the 80s,

heaven is a place on earth. Constructing one's celestial city, one's promised land, is empowering.

It's a radical act that forces us to imagine our freedom. It's the place

...