Enlighten Radio Presents
Soledad Grandfather
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The Featured poem is Robert Hayden's 'Soledad'. It turns out that Case's speculation about a poetical connection to the Soledad Prison rebellion of 1971 and the "Soledad Brothers" is complete fantasy! Hayden's poem does address imprisonment, and race, and addiction, but first appeared in the 1940's.
Broadcast LIVE Wednesdays, 10 AM on https://player.enlightenradio.org
Hosts: Janet Harrison, John Case
This Episode Recorded August 14, 2024
Soledad
by Robert Hayden
(And I, I am no longer of that world)
Naked, he lies in the blinded room
chain-smoking, cradled by drugs, by jazz
as never by any lover's cradling flesh.
Miles Davis coolly blows for him:
O pena negra, sensual Flamenco blues;
the red clay foxfire voice of Lady Day
(lady of the pure black magnolias)
sobsings her sorrow and loss and fare you well,
dryweeps the pain his treacherous jailers
have released him from for a while.
His fears and his unfinished self
await him down in the anywhere streets.
He hides on the dark side of the moon,
takes refuge in a stained-glass cell,
flies to a clockless country of crystal.
Only the ghost of Lady Day knows where
he is. Only the music. And he swings
oh swings: beyond complete immortal now.
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