Wednesday, April 29, 2026

The Poetry Show: Trees

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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Wednesday, April 22, 2026

The Poetry Show: Clouds

Enlighten Radio Presents

I Really Don't Know Clouds. At All.

Cloud

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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Tuesday, April 14, 2026

The Poetry Show: Storms

Enlighten Radio Presents

Praise the Rain; it brings more rain.

Praise the 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 talkâ€”
Praise the hurt, the house slack
The stand of trees, the dignityâ€”
Praise the dark, the moon cradle
The sky fall, the bear sleepâ€”
Praise the mist, the warrior name
The earth eclipse, the fired leapâ€”
Praise the backwards, upward sky
The baby cry, the spirit foodâ€”
Praise canoe, the fish rush
The hole for frog, the upside-downâ€”
Praise the day, the cloud cup
The mind flat, forget it allâ€”
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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The Last Stop Cafe: Echoes of Dread

Enlighten Radio Presents

The Last Stop Cafe: Echoes of Dread

There is a Horrifying Secret in "the new ballroom . . ."

The Last Stop Cafe: Echoes of Dread

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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questions, comments: jcase4218@gmail.com

Thursday, April 2, 2026

The Last Stop Cafe: Oscar Rumors

Enlighten Radio Presents

The Last Stop Cafe: Oscar Rumors On Mike...

The Nationals are Lookin HOT

Broadcast Thrsdays 11 AM, player.enlightenradio.org

Hosts: John Case, James Boyd, Mike Cuccherini

for the showboaters this is the boulevard of broken dreams. For hitchikers, this ride stops at area 51. For heroes this is the Heartbreak Hotel. For losers there's no more of that here.

This Episode Recorded April 2, 2026 at the Red Caboose Studio, Harpers Ferry, WV

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Wednesday, April 1, 2026

The Poetry show: April Is The Cruelist Month

Enlighten Radio Presents

Seize the Time!

April poems golden, April cloudy, Gracious, cruel, tender, rowdy -- some of the many Aprils we thought we knew and the few we could not bear to lose.

Broadcast Wednesdays, 10 AM on player.enlightenradio.org

Hosts: Janet Harrison, John Case

This Episode Recorded April 1, 2026

Let Me Begin Again

by Major Jackson

Let me begin again as a quiet thought
in the shape of a shell slowly examined
by a brown child on a beach at dawn
straining to see their future. Let me begin
this time knowing the drumming in my dreams
is me inheriting the earth, is morning
lighting up the rivers. Let me burn
my vanities: old music in the pines, sifters
of scotch, a day moon like a signature
of night. This time, let me circle
the island of my fears only once then
live like a raging waterfall and grow
a magnificent mustache. Let me not ever be
the birdcage or the serrated blade or
the empty season. Dear Glacier, Dear Sea
of Stars, Dear Leopards disintegrating
at the outer limits of our greed; soon we will
encounter you only in motivational tweets.
Reader, I should have married you sooner.
This time, let me not sleep like the prophet who
believes heâ€™s seen infinity. Let me run
at break-neck speeds toward sceneries
of doubt. I have no more dress rehearsals
to attend. Look closer: I am licking my lips.

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Friday, March 27, 2026

The Poetry Show: Spring Arrives

Enlighten Radio Presents

It is the 152nd Birthday of Robert Frost.

It is a season of Fire, Rain and Skunk Cabbage.

mary oliver, emily dickinson, william carlos williams, gillian clarke, robert frost, ww, dh lawrence

The Pasture

Robert Frost

I'm going out to clean the pasture spring;
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I sha'n't be gone long.—You come too.

I'm going out to fetch the little calf
That's standing by the mother. It's so young,
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I sha'n't be gone long.—You come too.

Broadcast LIVE Wednesdays, 10 AM on https://player.enlightenradio.org

Hosts: Janet Harrison, John Case

This Episode Recorded March 26, 2025

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The Last Stop Cafe: This Shit Has No Bottom

Enlighten Radio Presents

The Last Stop Cafe: This Shit Has No Bottom

To Hell in a Handbasket

The Last Stop Cafe: This Shit Has No Bottom

Thursdays 10 AM on player.enlightenradio.org

Hosts: Mike Cuccherini, John Case, James Boyd

Mike, John and James depart from the sports, entertainment, and recovery culture discussions to take account of the horror show into which this country is being daily transformed.

This Episode Recorded 3/25/2026 at the Red Caboose Studio, Harpers Ferry, WV

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questions, comments: jcase4218@gmail.com

The Last Stop Cafe: Women’s Soccer Blowout Ed.

Enlighten Radio Presents

The Last Stop Cafe: Women's Soccer Blowout Ed.

Big League Women's Soccer Champs!

The Last Stop Cafe: Women's Soccer Blowout Ed.

Thursdays, 10 AM on www.enlightenradio.org

Hosts: Mike Cuccherini, John Case, James Boyd

Mia Hamm (Two-time World Cup & Olympic Champion) "I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion".

This Episode Recorded Mar 18 at the Red Caboose Studio, Harpers Ferry, WV

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The Last Stop Cafe: Trades and Recruits

Enlighten Radio Presents

The Last Stop Cafe: Trades and Recruits

And pluck till time and times are done...

The Last Stop Cafe: Trades and Recruits

Broadcast LIVE Thursdays, 10 AM

Hosts: Mike Cuccherini, John Case, James Boyd

Are there more lawyers than players in pro sports?

This Episode Recorded 3/12/2006 at the Red Caboose Studio, Harpers Ferry, WV

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Last Stop Cafe: When a Bat is a Weapon

Enlighten Radio Presents

Last Stop Cafe: When a Bat is a Weapon

Rough Play!

Last Stop Cafe: When a Bat is a Weapon

Thursdays, 10 AM

Hosts: Mike Cuccherini, John Case, James Boyd

After the game is over, and the bodies are removed from the arenas and grounds. The lions are satiated. The children who failed to go to bed on time have all been devoured. Play Ball!

This Episode Recorded March 3, 2026 at the Red Caboose Studio, Harpers Ferry, WV

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questions, comments: jcase4218@gmail.com

The Poetry Show: Safe Harbors

Enlighten Radio Presents

Unexpected Poetics -- Seeking, and Finding Safe Harbor

Poets Dinah Hawken, Tracy K Smith, Ralph Williams, Don Hynes visit the peace of harbors.

This poem by David Gregory, Reading the Bar/Whakatane Harbour, like the sea, does not encourage adjectives.

Reading the Bar

Whakatane Harbour

Such a liquid language

lisping between the headlands

with a slight disturbance of syntax

over the rocks, fresh and salt;

the river knuckling under.

Read the slurred waves.

Air as braille

against the skin, hair;

always more episodes of driftwood.

An interrogation of gulls

demand their living

off the backs of water.

The sea is not

contained by adjectives

– sullen, playful, unforgiving –

the insult of ignorance

has a sure response.

A woman stands alone

literate in grief.

David Gregory

Based on a True Story, Sudden Valley Press, 2024

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Thursday, March 26, 2026

The Poetry Show: The Outer Planets

Enlighten Radio Presents

The Outer Planets and beyond: What are we really looking at?

Sarah Doyle, David Sutton. Derek Walcott and Ada Limon answer.

Broadcasts LIVE: Wednesdays, 10 AM Eastern Time.

Hosts: Janet Harrison and John Case

This Episode Recorded 2/17/2026

In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa

by Ada Limon

Arching under the night sky inky
with black expansiveness, we point
to the planets we know, we
pin quick wishes on stars. From earth,
we read the sky as if it is an unerring book
of the universe, expert and evident.
Still, there are mysteries below our sky:
the whale song, the songbird singing
its call in the bough of a wind-shaken tree.
We are creatures of constant awe,
curious at beauty, at leaf and blossom,
at grief and pleasure, sun and shadow.
And it is not darkness that unites us,
not the cold distance of space, but
the offering of water, each drop of rain,
each rivulet, each pulse, each vein.
O second moon, we, too, are made
of water, of vast and beckoning seas.
We, too, are made of wonders, of great
and ordinary loves, of small invisible worlds,
of a need to call out through the dark.

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Thursday, March 5, 2026

The Poetry Show: The Planets

A Poetical Survey of the Inner Solar System

The Poetry show is hosted by John Case and Janet Harrison. This episode was recorded Feb 17, 2026, at the RedCaboose studio.

Janet has found provocative illustrations of the planetary view from Mercury, Venus, Mars, the Asteroids, Jupiter and Saturn. Kenneth Rexroth, Wyn Cooper, Derek Walcott, Liz Garton, and more.

What is the planetary view really looking at?

It is difficult to not pass on a gem from Kenneth Rexroth.

On What Planet

By Kenneth Rexroth

Uniformly over the whole countryside
The warm air flows imperceptibly seaward;
The autumn haze drifts in deep bands
Over the pale water;
White egrets stand in the blue marshes;
Tamalpais, Diablo, St. Helena
Float in the air.
Climbing on the cliffs of Hunter’s Hill
We look out over fifty miles of sinuous
Interpenetration of mountains and sea.

Leading up a twisted chimney,
Just as my eyes rise to the level
Of a small cave, two white owls
Fly out, silent, close to my face.
They hover, confused in the sunlight,
And disappear into the recesses of the cliff.

All day I have been watching a new climber,
A young girl with ash blonde hair
And gentle confident eyes.
She climbs slowly, precisely,
With unwasted grace.

While I am coiling the ropes,
Watching the spectacular sunset,
She turns to me and says, quietly,
“It must be very beautiful, the sunset,
On Saturn, with the rings and all the moons.”