Radio Giza

I tune into your station
on the wireless radio,
hearing your voice
within the static.
The old rhymes
and sing-song melodies
distorted by the sounds
of Humpty Dumpty
and the Forest Witch.
I remember harmonies –
boys on a street-corner,
girls in the nuns’ choir,
sounds of Christmas eve
and the stories we’d tell.
I could turn up the volume,
shout back over the confusion
but the smell of water
and sight of long-tailed birds
keeps me grounded,
tuned into what’s playing
beyond the uproar,
radio station Giza
and pirate broadcasts
from the high Andes.
The ancients knew,
the voices they heard
still clear and pristine.
Just turn the knob,
tweak your dial.
There’s music playing
that all the king’s men
will never hear.

 

 


photograph by Hana El Zohiry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading by author with music by Ahura


 


10 Responses to “Radio Giza”

  1. Ravenstalk says:

    ~ From The Deep I Rise With You Brother ~ Feeling Blessed ~ Thank You ~ 🙏

  2. Where DO these inspirations come from?… such a close & magical place!
    Traveling with you, Poet Brother. Love & Blessings.

  3. John Gray says:

    Don, your words sing accompaniment to the music “that all the king’s men will never hear.” The ancients are as here, now, today as ever. It just takes one to hear one.

  4. Don…there IS music playing…what Uranda used to call the Wonderful One Within….and most do not hear it.

  5. David Kyle says:

    We need you to keep singing, so few are listening, so few are hearing. Your voice goes beyond those of us who treasure you and your songs. You set into the ethers new points on the inner dial that can touch others far beyond these words. That’s what poets and wizards do!

  6. Eric Dunn says:

    The Wind by Cat Stevens.

  7. Tom Figel says:

    Don, you’re playing to a clever audience. The comments are as interesting as the poem that prompted them. Thanks.

  8. David Barnes says:

    As your poem clearly indicates Don, this is getting to be a lot of fun; and every broadcast needs amplification, not accomplshed by one man standing lone and shouting louder; now the whole mechanism comes together, works together, and from this invisible capstone, the signal pulsing strong—and those who turn the dial may find the station with this ancient Voice and music playing loud and clear, and drum or sing or hum along, and let the dance begin anew

  9. Edward Haimes says:

    Beautiful Don, could Dylan have said it too, ” All Along the Watchtower.” ” “There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief.
    There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief
    Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth
    None of them along the line know what any of it is worth”
    “No reason to get excited,” the thief, he kindly spoke
    “There is many here among us who feel life is but a joke
    But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate
    So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late”
    All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
    While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too
    Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
    Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl
    Love to you Don.

  10. Susan Bennett says:

    This poem is loaded.
    Thankyou

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