democracyroad

 
 
Enlighten Radio Presents
 
Speakingof Rivers
 
 
Soulful flow of rivers: Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Oliver Tearl, Pablo Neruda, KLathleen Raine, Don Domanski, Rabindranath Tagore
Broadcast Wednesdays, 10 AM on player.enlightenradio.org
Hosts: Janet Harrison, John Case
This Episode Recorded may 6, 2026
The Negro speaks of Rivers
by Langston Hughes
I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
 
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Enlighten Radio Presents
 
Stand Still
 
The Bristlecone Pine
A Magnificent collection of Tree Visions: Drink the undrinkable; Through a glass, darkly; The Trees are not lost. Joy Harjo, Adrienne Rich, Christian Wimen, WS Merwin, Jane Hirshfield. Poems of Peace.
Broadcast Wednesdays, 10 AM on player.enlightenradio.org
Hosts: Janet Harrison, John Case
This Episode Recorded April 29, 2026
 
The Bristlecone Pine
by Mary Jane Myers
For centuries, the stalwart pine has stood __in this unwonted spot. Its shallow roots and resinous hard wood __shield it from drought and rot. __Thin soil, high winds, cold air: it thrives where other living things cannot. __Dear tree, please hear my prayer. __Lend me your purple cone to plant inside my heart, its chambers bare, __arteries hard as bone. __For from your potent seed, that germinates on bleak and barren stone, __fresh hope will sprout. Indeed, to love's avowals I'd once again accede.
 
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Enlighten Radio Presents
 
I Really Don't Know Clouds. At All.
 
 
Sandra Cisneros, Billy Collins, Mary Oliver, Sara Teasdale, Sara James, Phillis Levin, Joni Mitchell? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgtLZCe-GSM)
Broadcast Wednesdays, 10 AM on player.enlightenradio.org
Hosts: Janet Harrison, John Case
This Episode Recorded April22, 2026
Cloud
by Sandra Cisneros
Before you became a cloud, you were an ocean, roiled and murmuring like a mouth.
You were the shadow of a cloud crossing over a field of tulips.
You were the tears of a man who cried into a plaid handkerchief.
You were a sky without a hat.
Your heart puffed and flowered like sheets drying on a line.
And when you were a tree, you listened to trees and the tree things trees told you.
You were the wind in the wheels of a red bicycle.
You were the spidery Maria tattooed on the hairless arm of a boy in downtown Houston.
You were the rain rolling off the waxy leaves of a magnolia tree.
A lock of straw-colored hair wedged between the mottled pages of a Victor Hugo novel.
A crescent of soap.
A spider the color of a finger nail.
The black nets beneath the sea of olive trees.
A skein of blue wool.
A tea saucer wrapped in newspaper.
An empty cracker tin.
A bowl of blueberries in heavy cream.
White wine in a green-stemmed glass.
And when you opened your wings to wind, across the punched-tin sky above a prison courtyard, those condemned to death and those condemned to life watched how smooth and sweet a white cloud glides.
 
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Enlighten Radio Presents
 
Praise the Rain; it brings more rain.
 
 
The Poetry of storms is high on thematic popularity judging by their presence -- even abundance -- in hundreds of languages. Emily Dickinsen, Mark Van Dorn, Seamus Heany, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), and Gladys Cardiff give artful and diverse slants on storms. Joy Harjo delivers a magnificent close.
Broadcast Wednesdays, 10 AM on player.enlightenradio.org
Hosts: Janet Harrison, John Case
This Episode Recorded April 8, 2026
Praise the Rain
by Joy Harjo
Praise the rain; the seagull dive The curl of plant, the raven talk— Praise the hurt, the house slack The stand of trees, the dignity— Praise the dark, the moon cradle The sky fall, the bear sleep— Praise the mist, the warrior name The earth eclipse, the fired leap— Praise the backwards, upward sky The baby cry, the spirit food— Praise canoe, the fish rush The hole for frog, the upside-down— Praise the day, the cloud cup The mind flat, forget it all— Praise crazy. Praise sad. Praise the path on which we're led. Praise the roads on earth and water. Praise the eater and the eaten. Praise beginnings; praise the end. Praise the song and praise the singer. Praise the rain; it brings more rain. Praise the rain; it brings more rain.
 
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Enlighten Radio Presents
The Last Stop Cafe: Echoes of Dread
There is a Horrifying Secret in "the new ballroom . . ."
 
 
Broadcast Thursdays 11 AM on player.enlightenradio.org
Hosts: Mike Cuccherini, John Case, James Boyd
 
Special Guest: Michelle Principi
Mike interviews his co-star, Michelle Principi, as they share screening experiences producing "Echoes of Dread", a horror film that has come back -- this time, to REAL LIFE!
This Episode Recorded April 9, 2026 at the Red Caboose Studio, Harpers Ferry, WV
 
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