TRANSCRIPT

I’m Major Jackson, and this is The Slowdown.

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 writing world. This week’s episodes include audio we recorded onsite, bringing together many voices, Slowdown style. 

Last week, The Slowdown team gathered with writers and folks from the writing world in Los Angeles. This came only three months after catastrophic fires affecting thousands of Angelenos, including many in our poetry community. 

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

Flame
by C.D. Wright

the breath               the trees               the bridge

the road                    the rain                   the sheen

the breath               the line                   the skin

the vineyard           the fences            the leg

the water                  the breath             the shift

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 dogs                 the blear

the lungs                  the breath               the glove

the signal                 the turn                  the need

the step                    the lights                the door

the mouth               the tongue              the eyes

the burn                    the burned               the burning

“Flame" by C.D. Wright from STEAL AWAY: SELECTED AND NEW POEMS © 2002 C.D. Wright. Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Copper Canyon Press.