Electric Eclectic Strong | Randy Bynum
Today the air waves, and no I don’t mean
a breathy metaphor raise of a hand or fist
or a live long and prosper Mr. Spock salute hello-
goodbye but the Morning Session jazz radio host
is laying down, segueing, spinning and pouring
out some liquid light—Afro-pop, Texas saxes,
a hypnotic brass band named well, Hypnotic,
with a tuba (are you kidding me),
and a grab bag burger bar full of blues,
with Mingus shakes—and for just a moment
or a couple starship dayshine hours or three,
the uglies known as autocrats, republic-bought-
fatcats, genocide, slavery denied, sexicide,
planetary homicide/cruelicide be momentarily
confined to back back background backbeat,
tossed out the backdoor to the dusty dirt floor.
Oh mamas of the world, (who rule? you rule!)
this is some sweet sweet jam on top of toast
and one way to get through the brain-cracking
soul-sucking fires and flames of a fall-apart
world frayed at seams, each step forward
a simultaneity of present/future madness,
cash-flush mcmansioneers, charioteers,
side by side the homeless, the helpless,
lands and lands of rubble-buried kids.
How to get through a day that involves
step step stepping the fray? Let those jazz
messengers and the jazz hosts play, channel
language universal, bathe and baptize me,
you, all in the bop diddy boom fresh air waves,
wish upon a toe-tapped head-nod red native
star, there’s get-it-done activism still to be made,
and now, yes now, these tunes will kick free,
happen it up higher, staying strong today.
Tomorrow will show its cheat cards soon enough.
For Now: Marvin Gaye, end of show, take it away.
Electric Eclectic Strong by Randy Bynum was selected as the winner of the 2024 HoneyBee Prize in Poetry by Nebraska State Poet, Matt Mason. Here’s what Mr. Mason had to say about the piece:
This poem is a beautiful celebration of music and radio. With great use of sound and language (musically put together!), it deals with frustrations that music can’t eliminate but can give a respite from so that we can gather ourselves back together and be able to deal with the madnesses of the world. With a conversational style, it draws you in like a friend’s voice and holds you to the last, gorgeous lines.
About the Author:
Randy Bynum’s work appears in Cirque (contest winner), Arboreal Literary Magazine, Metonym Journal, Atticus Review, New Plains Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, and others. He explores people, places, social inequity (his mother was ½ Native American/Cherokee). He’s seeking publication for his collections Tulips Talking Behind My Back and Dragons Who Type: Poems of Whimsy and Wishes. He’s a former speech/theatre teacher, an award-winning playwright, (“The Convert”, Kennedy Center/ACTF, Region IX), and believes KMHD Jazz Radio can help save the world. He lives in Portland, OR with wife Dani and rescue dog Cooper.