democracyroad

The Poetry Show Podcast: May Day in Verse

 
Enlighten Radio Presents: The Poetry Show Podcast
International Workers Day in Verse
"All of Us or None"
hosts: John Case, Janet Harrison
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2 Poems 
Bertolt Brecht:
The Rugweavers of Kujan-Bulak Honor Comrade Lenin
 
often and copiously honor has been doneto comrade Lenin. there are busts and statues.cities are called after him, and children.speeches are made in many languagesthere are meetings and demonstrations
from shanghai to Chicago in Lenin's honor.but this is how he was honored bythe carpet weavers of kuyan-bulaka little township in southern Turkestan.
every evening there twenty carpet weaversshaking with fever rise from their primitive loomsfever is rife: the railway stationis full of the hum of mosquitoes, a thick cloudthat rises from the swamp behind the old camels' graveyard.but the railway train whichevery two weeks brings water and smoke, bringsthe news also one daythat the day approaches honoring comrade lining.and the people of kuyan-bulakcarpet weavers, poor peopledecide that in their township too comrade Lenin'splaster bust shall be put up.
then, as the collection is made for the bustthey all standshaking with fever and offertheir hard-earned kopeks with trembling hands.and the red army man Stepa Gamalev, whocarefully counts and nimutely watchessees how ready they are to honor Lenin, and he is gladbut he also sees their unsteady handsand he suddenly proposesthat the money for the bust be used to buy petroleumto be poured on the swamp behind the camels' graveyardwhere the mosquitoes breed that carrythe fever germ.and so to fight the fever at kuyan-bulak, thushonoring the dead butnever to be forgottencomrade Lenin.
they resolved to do this. on the day of the ceremony thy carriedtheir dented buckets filled with black petroleumone after the otherand poured it over the swamp
so they helped themselves by honoring Lenin, andhad understood him better.
2
we have heard how the people of kuyan-bulakhonored lenin. when in the eveningthe petroleum had been bought and poured on the swampa man rose at that meeting, demandingthat a plaque be affixed on the railway stationrecording these events and containingprecise details too of their altered plan, the exchange ofthe bust for lenin for a barrel of fever-destroying oil.and all this in honor of Lenin.and they did this as welland put up the plaque.
bb
 
All of Us or None
 
Slave, who is it that shall free you?Those in deepest darkness lying.Comrade, only these can see youOnly they can hear you crying.Comrade, only slaves can free you.Everything or nothing. All of us or none.One alone his lot can’t better.Either gun or fetter.Everything or nothing. All of us or none.
You who hunger, who shall feed you?If it’s bread you would be carving,Come to us, we too are starving.Come to us and let us lead you.Only hungry men can feed you.Everything or nothing. All of us or none.One alone his lot can’t better.Either gun or fetter.Everything or nothing. All of us or none.
Beaten man, who shall avenge you?You, on whom the blows are falling,Hear your wounded brothers calling.Weakness gives us strength to lend you.Come to us, we shall avenge you.Everything or nothing. All of us or none.One alone his lot can’t better.Either gun or fetter.Everything or nothing. All of us or none.
Who, oh wretched one, shall dare it?He who can no longer bear it.Counts the blows that arm his spirit.Taught the time by need and sorrow,Strikes today and not tomorrow.Everything or nothing. All of us or none.One alone his lot can’t better.Either gun or fetter.Everything or nothing. All of us or none.
 
 
 

Recovery Radio Podcast: A Deeper Look at School Violence

 
Enlighten Radio Presents: The Recovery Radio Show Podcast
with host James Boyd
and Special Guest Ernie Lucas
TOPIC: Exploring Community Approaches to School Violence
Recorded LIVE April 27, 2023, 7 AM Eastern, 
The Red Caboose Studio
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
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The Sports Attack: But First, a Lifetime Tribute to Charlie Wiener

 
Enlighten Radio Presents
The Sports Attack with Mike Diesel
Recorded LIVE April 28. 2023, at EnlightenRadio.Org Studios
Special Guest Charlie Wiener
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Enlighten Radio: The Storytelling Hour: May 1: Baltimore

Labor Beat Podcast: WV Labor Political Strategy

 
 
 
Enlighten Radio Presents:
The Labor Beat Podcast
Recorded Tuesday, May 2, 2023, Harpers Ferry, WV
Hosts John Case, John Christensen and Scott Marshall welcome
Special Guest: Brother Josh Sword 
President of the West Virginia AFL-C()
 
 
Todays program focuses on political strategy for labor leading 
into the 2024 election cycle.
 
If you would like to ask a question while on the air, or join the conversation, send an email to host@enlightenradio.org, 
or Google Chat to jcase4218@gmail.com.

The Poetry Show Podcast: Break My Heart

 
 
Enlighten Radio Presents:
The April 26, 2023 LIVE Broadcast of The Poetry Show
Today's show features two American poets: Jane Kenyon and Joy Harjo. Both found deep American waters and burial grounds amidst the shrapnel and debris of the Sixties. These two poets, and me, share the memory of the explosions.
Joy Harjo
Jane Kenyon
 
Poems Today:
After an Illness, Walking the Dog
Jane Kenyon
Wet things smell stronger,and I suppose his main regret is thathe can sniff just one at a time.In a frenzy of delighthe runs way up the sandy road—scored by freshets after five daysof rain. Every pebble gleams, every leaf.
When I whistle he halts abruptlyand steps in a circle,swings his extravagant tail.Then he rolls and rubs his muzzlein a particular place, while the drizzlefalls without cease, and Queen Anne’s laceand Goldenrod bend low.
The top of the logging road stands openand light. Another day, beforehunting starts, we’ll see how far it goes,leaving word first at home.The footing is ambiguous.
Soaked and muddy, the dog drops,panting, and looks up with what amountsto a grin. It’s so good to be uphill with him,nicely winded, and looking down on the pond.A sound commences in my left earlike the sound of the sea in a shell;a downward, vertiginous drag comes with it.Time to head home. I waituntil we’re nearly out to the main roadto put him back on the leash, and he—the designated optimist—imagines to the end that he is free.
 
********
 
Alone For a Week
Jane Kenyon
I washed a load of clothes
and hung them out to dry.
Then I went up to town
and busied myself all day.
The sleeve of your best shirt
rose ceremonious
when I drove in; our night-
clothes twined and untwined in
a little gust of wind.
 
For me it was getting late;
for you, where you were, not.
The harvest moon was full
but sparse clouds made its light
not quite reliable.
The bed on your side seemed
as wide and flat as Kansas;
your pillow plump, cool,
and allegorical. . . .
 
********
 
Break My Heart
 
Joy Harjo
 
there are always flowers,love cries, or blood.
someone is always leavingby exhile, death or heartbreak.
the heart is a fist.it pockets prayer or holds rage.
it’s a timekeeper.music maker or backstreet truth teller.
baby, baby, babyyou can’t say what’s been said
before, though even wordsare a creature of habit.
you cannot force poetrywith a ruler, or jail it at a desk.
mystery is blind, but wills youto untie the cloth, in eternity.
police with their gunscannot enter here to move us off our lands.
history will always find you, and wrap youin its thousand arms.–
someone will lift from the earthwithout wings.
another will fall from the skythrough the knots of a tree.
chaos is primordial.all words have roots here.
you will never sleep againthough you will never stop dreaming.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Labor Beat Podcast:: We May Not Have Enough Workers!

 
Enlighten Radio Presents
Labor Beat Radio's April 25 LIVE Broadcast
West Virginia skilled workers and youth are leaving the state. This puts many a big idea in jeopardy for lack of a sizable and sufficiently capable workforce. A big reason is that they are treated poorly here in comparison with other areas of the country.
Hosts: John Case, JB Christensen, Scott Marshall
Special Guest: Fuzz LaRue, a retired leader of the WV Plumbers and Pipefitters who is very active in political education for the WV AFL CIO, and lobbying efforts in the WV state legislature.
 
 
Labor Beat Broadcasts LIVE Tuesdays @7:30 AM Eastern Time
 
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Enlighten Radio: The Storytelling Hour: April 24: Food