Happy Valentine's Day! What better way to celebrate than to read WKMS love poems? Tracy Ross and Rebecca Feldhaus-Adams read the top 10 poems today during Sounds Good. In addition to hearing their lovely poetry, they also received a box of chocolates from The Chocolate Factory in Paducah. A special thank you, with hugs and kisses, to everyone who sent us a love poem this year! Will you be in the Top Ten in our Love Poems 2015 contest?
2014 Love Poems Top 10:
My Valentine - Eva D. Wetmore, Murray
My Love had gone; my life was a mess
I tuned the dial to WKMS
What have I found? I cocked my ear ?
There’s music and comments; It's all very clear
Lo and Behold, It was Morning at Eight,
I poured my coffee and filled my plate.
The news ! how refreshing ! Wait, Wait, don't tell
The Music was soothing, Am I under a spell??
The stories and programs continued so fine
I just had to tell you, I love Saint Valentine
--
Ode to Morning Edition - Barbara Cobb, Murray
Out of darkness you wake me with a whisper,
Then gently talk me through the cold grey dawn,
You tell me stories of the living dead,
Of epic moments, of empires fallen,
Of humans’ seemingly infinite cruelty to humans,
And equally infinite love.
The rain falls,
The windshield wipers groan on the glass,
And you keep on telling our stories.
Seasons change, the stories change,
But you are here,
And I know enough to know
That I can go on –
Spacemen fall from the sky,
Bombs, drones, meteors, dust,
And we go on,
And the windshield wipers groan on the glass,
And I am home.
Tell me our stories,
So I will know.
--
Saturday Night Dancing - Nancy Phillips, Murray
On WKMS at five
We hear that old piano from down the avenue.
Our hearts leave Kentucky in time to arrive,
St. Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater, seats for two.
A week without ketchup,
Starved for rhubarb pie,
No answers to life’s persistent questions.
But, a visit to Wobegone gratifies.
We lean in for the news.
Flat screens in fish shacks,
Pontoon boats with grills,
Mishaps abound in this cold northern town.
Guitars and fiddles float
through prairies and pines.
We’re being carried away by
Sweet tunes of romance.
The rug becomes a dance floor
Our feet join the polka.
Holding tight, we begin a sashay.
Then, dreamily moving to the count,
We melt to a waltz.
Two hours of renewed affection,
We forget each other’s faults.
Honey, how could we ask for more?
It’s Saturday, and Garrison’s coming through the door.
--
Ode to My Favorite Radio Station - Tammie Sanders, Princeton
WKMS you’ve earned my devotion.
You enrich my life, put my brain in motion.
You’re a breath of Fresh Air when my day is stale.
You engage my interest with Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell.
All Things Considered my sentiment’s sincere.
You inform and inspire me pleasing my ears.
From Morning Edition to Beyond the Edge
You always Sound Good and I faithfully pledge
I’ll tune in to NPR whether it be:
89.5 or 91.3.
The Splendid Table feeds my cooking desire
And Diane Rehm’s show stirs political fire.
I count on you always to keep me informed
About news, events, weather and icy storms.
I savor House Blend, Juke Joint Shuffle, and World Café.
Talk of the Nation and BBC make my day.
I cherish the time I spend listening you
At Café Jazz, Jive House and the Front Porch too.
Far beyond the live broadcasts my affection goes on:
Lovett Live, Pickin’ Party and Pennington on the lawn.
Since May, 1970 you’ve been a star.
I love you WKMS and NPR.
--
Matt Markgraf, Man Crush - David Harper, Cadiz
Matt Markgraf, man crush
Like...Titanosaur evolved
Weekend Energy!
Dubya K M S
Can't get enough of your love
Chocolates, now, please.
--
WKMS - Seth Grogan, Hazel
WKMS there is so much to say,
she's there for me in the morning when I wake up each day.
She's there when I lay my head on my pillow at night,
when we are together it just feels so right.
You'll never believe the way our love came to be,
it's like a fairy tale straight from Walt Disney.
I fell in love with her the first time we met,
with Kate Lochte's voice coming through the radio set.
I was in love, head over heels,
I wanted her with me at work, at home, when we went out to meals.
We grew so close she was the perfect fit,
until the fateful day she asked me to commit.
Pledge?! the request really panicked me,
I wanted my life, I wanted to be free!
Responsibility?! I didn't need it! What for? Why?
So I left her alone that day and I said good-bye.
I went in search of another to be with me,
WTPR, WKYQ, WFGE.
The flings were all fun I'll have to say,
But none of them fulfilled me in that special way.
But I was young and stubborn and wanted my fun,
with my head in the clouds, waiting for my moment in the sun.
"You are so immature," my parents would say,
"Grow up and learn about the world around you each day.
The ones your with now don't know about current events,
they only play music that's not worth two cents.
They don't inform you in any real way,
or make you a good citizen, to stand up and have your say.
Every last one will leave you you'll see,
When trouble comes around where will they be?"
But I was too busy sowing a wild oat or two,
I couldn't see what they saw or know what they knew.
Until one day an ice storm came 'round,
and out of my radio there came not a sound.
I was left all alone, scared and sad with the blues,
without power or water or even local news.
All the other stations wanted was party and music and fun,
but they couldn't tell me what the weather had done.
Without electricity they couldn't tell me anything at all,
not like Diane Rehm or Tracy Ross or Kai Ryssdal.
I suddenly say how foolish I'd been,
I'd turned my back on my only true friend.
I wondered if she could ever forgive me,
as my trembling fingers searched the dial for 91.3.
I hardly dared hope she would still be there,
after I'd been so heartless and treated her unfair.
When suddenly through the static came a voice oh so sweet,
I begged for forgiveness throwing myself at her feet.
She helped me find gasoline and food and took me back in,
even though the way I'd treated her was really a sin.
I told her then I was ready to commit,
the day I made a pledge is one I'll never forget.
The lesson I learned through those icy, stormy days,
is a relationship is one only if it works both ways.
I'd taken for so long but never given back,
not caring that I had it all while she suffered lack.
It was fate that we'd be together I guess,
I love you till the end sweet WKMS.
--
Café Jazz Pizzazz - Levingston Lewis, Cadiz
On Tuesday nights,
Once I've heard my final lecture
as time winds to 9,
there is no conjecture,
it's Jazz I need to unwind.
Rather than my own ear,
I revere and adhere to Todd,
George, Brian, and Bob, who clear
my air, and induce a head nod,
thank God, the glorious frequency
that I frequent frequently
sings a beboppin' melody; 91.3
swings freely,
enveloping me into the Cafe Jazz
with beats grooved to soothe, as it always has.
--
What Public Radio Does For Me: A Haiku Sequence- Elizabeth Hammonds, Murray
On a cold Sunday
A Prairie Home Companion
Always warms my soul.
All Songs Considered
Plays music I would never
Have heard on my own.
When I need world news,
The BBC Newshour
Keeps me on my toes.
All Things Considered
Makes me feel much smarter than
I am in real life.
Mondays and Thursdays
I depend on Café Jazz
For smooth sounds at night.
There’s nothing better
For lovers of great music
Than the World Café.
Then Saturday nights,
Comes my favorite of all:
It’s Beyond the Edge.
So take this poem
To WKMS
As a sign of love.
--
My husband is in love with Kate Lochte - Mary Addison-Lamb, Springville, TN
My husband is in love with Kate Lochte
It’s her voice,
a whisper with honey.
What’s more, I know there are others,
Soraya,
David,
Linda,
Carl,
Ira,
Scott,
Tracy,
Lourdes,
Once when there was gunfire in the background of Sylvia Paggioli’s report
I heard him cry out “, Run Sylvia, run away!”
He called her by her first name!
Of course,
he would.
We know them personally.
they come into our house daily to entertain, inform,
make us think.
Anyway,
I can’t really complain
about his love for Kate…….
After all, I have Garrison.
--
HOW I CAME TO LOVE PUBLIC RADIO AND WKMS- Celia Brewer, Mayfield
When I was a teen
The Mayfield media were few
Channel 12-CBS, Channel 6-NBC
Two channels only.
Television was new.
Radio however was a different thing.
We had many stations for our daily listening
And transistor radios we carried afar
To Kentucky Lake beaches or our own back yards.
Only AM radios came installed in our cars.
The coolest station was in the Midwest,
Out of Chicago, called WLS.
The hippest DJ played top-40 songs.
With Dick Biondi we all danced along.
Then I went off to college, to Lexing-ton
Where I studied a lot and of course had some fun.
Motown was smokin’, and so was rock—
The Beatles, the Stones, Smokey Robinson.
Then one day I tuned WUKY in.
The NPR station at dear old UK
Coming from the top of gothic McVey,
And into my life thundered Morning Edition
All Things Considered, fabulous men and women—
Susan Stamberg, Bob Edwards,
Cokey Roberts, Scott Simon
And a guy from Ashland named Noah Adams
Who got his start at UK and was said to hanker
For the US capital and a national news anchor.
And thus began my long love affair
With public radio and great programs on air
And stations I supported with each change of address
From Corpus Christi to New Orleans to WKMS.
Its programs and people are some of the best—
Asia, Chad, Jenni, Kathy and Katie
On to Matt, Dr. Bob, Todd and Tracy.
From Beyond the Edge,
Black Cats Jump
And do the Juke Joint Shuffle
At Café Jazz.
It all Sounds Good
With very little kerfuffle.
These folks do their thing
And do it with flair
Plus a lot of aplomb.
That’s the reason my radio
On top of my desk
Never leaves the dial’s left
Or WKMS. . .FM.
