The Justice Department with Spec Agent DJ Justice: Recent Episodes

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The Justice Department

Special Agent DJ Justice is manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Do you smell that?” she asked, as we drove through Reims, past the headquarters of the National Front, on our way to La Tranche sur Mer.

“I don’t know,” I said flatly, “what is it?”

“It smells like… ” she sniffed in a haughty, Parisian disdain, “it smells like, fascism.”

I knew then I was in love with her. I knew it truly.

– Justice Putnam
“My Little French Honeymoon”

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 10 November 24 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

“I Used To Pray To A Man-Faced God”

1 - Laurie Anderson - Waiting for the Barbarians
2 - Lisa Gerrard - Persephone (The Gathering of Flowers)
3 - William Orbit - Gringatcho Demento

Station Break

4 - Guillaume Poncelet - Le Bruit du Vent
5 - Yusef Lateef - Like It Is
6 - Yussef Dayes, Marco Bernardis & Rocco Palladino - Venna Sicily Box
7 - Natalia Lafourcade - María la Curandera
8 - El Búho - Mañana Tepotzlan
9 - Pedro Mizutani - Chuva de Verão

I used to pray to a man-faced god.
Kept his whip beneath my bed.Set alarms for daybreak lashings.
Pressed white cotton to the flay.Made flags of the bloodsoak.
Raised them from my window.Called this worship.Dreamt heaven a jury small as a county
where nobody looked like me.Winged bailiffs plucked my cuffs
to trap my cousin in a hot coal cage.Called this roulette freedom,
licking my raw wrists.Which kill blew my tatters down.
Peeled me to the blackest jade.Remothered me to the squad car blaze.
Loot and shard my siblings now.Which kill. Forgive me.
I feared the devil’s prison.Misfaithed the sheriff
in the sky. Why.Which kill. Forgive me
family, I miscountried—our swarming, anthem
of my true homeland.Heaven and hell
are the same empirehalf-slipped, gasping,
clutching our hems.Ungoverned by the lie,
with fists and flames,we cleave.

  • Kemi Alabi
    “Against Heaven”

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ntozake shange
i looked you up
among the poets at barnes & noble
but i didn’t find you

walt was there amidst leaves of grass
anne gazed down
her glazed eyes dreamt of rowing mercy
erica posed in her latest erotica
even rod took much space
i searched among ghosts
& those alive
still
i couldn’t find you

i asked the clerk
if he had kept you tied down in boxes
or does he use your books as dart boards
he smirked then shouted “she’s in the black section
in the back”
even literature has its ghettos

stacked amongst langston, nikki, & countee
maya who looked mad
the blues had her bad
zake tell me
did you demand to be segregated
“does color modify poetry”
i asked the manager

he patted me on my head
whispered
“it’s always been this way”

  • Assotto Saint
    “The Geography of Poetry”

“Does Color Modify Poetry?”

1 - Ibrahim Ferrer — Buenos Hermanos
2 - Kokoroko — Colonial Mentality
3 - War — City, Country, City

Station Break

4 - Grover Washington, Jr — A Secret Place
5 - Cymande — Dove
6 - Funkadelic — I’ll Stay
7 - Daft Punk - Something About Us

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The podcast for the 5 May 24 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres is available on the Spreaker Player.

“West Coast Variations on the Death of Mothers”

1 - Mount Madonna Choir — Ubi Caritas
2 - Edie Brickel — What Would You Do?
3 - Wilco — Jesus, Etc
4 - Shivaree — Goodnight Moon
5 - The Kovacs — My Love
6 - Peter Murphy — Marlene Dietrich’s Favourite Poem
7 - Thievery Corporation — La Femme Parallel

Station Break

8 - Bill Frisell — Where Do We Go?
9 - Zero 7 — Give It Away
10 - Breathe Owl Breathe — Lake Light
11 - Vashti Bunyan — Here Before
12 - Cyro Baptista & The Banquet of Spirits — Noia
13 - Iron & Wine — Upwards Over The Mountain
14 - Brian Eno & John Cale — Spinning Away

​(RIP Patricia Lenora Watanuki 10 May 1937 — 27 April 2024)

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I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.
Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.
The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.
Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

  • Edna St Vincent Millay
    “Dirge Without Music”

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 8 October 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"My Brother’s Voyage Ends in the Galilee”

1 - The Decemberists - After The Bombs
2 - Svrcina - Meet Me on the Battlefield
3 - Mission of Burma - Dead Pool
4 - Porno For Pyros - Freeway
5 - Wall of Voodoo - Call of the West
6 - Midnight Oil - Truganini

Station Break

7 - Kent - Kärleken Vänta
8 - Savage Republic - Hippodrome
9 - Tom Waits -- Heartattack And Vine
10 - Bob Dylan - Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine
11 - Siouxsie and The Banshees - Cities In Dust
12 - Duran Duran - Come Undone
13 - Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All voyeurism begins with surveillance ::
My brother’s voyage ends in the Galilee
I dream of a wall across the Galilee ::
Brother tunnels under & follows sunlight
a hot light eats his entire body
:: Like his warm gun ate his jacket’s lining
His jacket’s lining was wool :: Dead sheep
supposedly still living :: My brother does
live, supposedly, like his old state ::
He buys groceries in Nablus some weekends
:: He buys groceries for Nablus on weekends ::
I hope this city begins where the state ends
that occupation ends where the state began ::
All voyeurism begins with surveillance

  • Tarik Dobbs
    “My Brother is Both Ally and Combatant”

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Recorded live on Liquid Conspiracy Radio with Nykk Fell on KUSF 17 November 2010.

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The Podcast for 2 July 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres is now available on the Spreaker Player!

“And in This Fact You Sign Your Hope”

1 - The Blasters - Border Radio
2 - Timmy Thomas - Why Can't We Live Together?
3 - Womack & Womack - Teardrops
4 - Motels - Total Control
5 - David Byrne - Loco de Amor
6 - Johnny Trouble Trio - The Rhythm Of The Railroad Track
7 - Beat Farmers - Reason to Believe
8 - Legendary Shack Shakers - Blood on the Blue Grass

Station Break

9 - Dave Alvin - California Bloodlines
10 - The Knitters - Silver Wings
11 - Australian Crawl - Reckless
12 - Go Cat Go - Please Mama Please
13 - The Lincolns - Red Cadillac, Black Moustache
14 - The Obscuritones - Angel Eyes
15 - Imelda May - Train Kept a' Rollin'
16 - Dengue Fever - Tap Water

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the summer burn this rain so light
it evaporates before hitting the ground.
But summer isn’t over and far across the continent
rain is falling so long and hard that ground
is immiscible with shapes that will never reform
in the same way. To travel incognito is to abbreviate
part of the self to meet conditions as you imagine
them, or as they might be. Subterfuge or safety?
At a time when travel is inhibited, your incognito
is like living as so many others are dying.
I can’t speak of the places I’ve been when the sky
is turning shades of blue and gray, is fulminated red
or coping with breath of rockets in all their
deployments. How can a book end when there are
others being written, and in this fact you sign
your hope: a signature you’ve forgotten but scrolls
automatically. How glib is the Doppler radar?
The rituals I’ve resolved are those for preserving
the house—not against but out of calibration
with ants, mice, and rabbits. The inner outer thing.
I diminish my vocabulary to expand my understanding
of these experiences of static and stillness.
A prognosis of native blue-banded bees which
have seemed absent from usual places this year.
A psychoanalysis of absence. A dereliction of cause,
a tribulation of effect. “Doomscrolling” events into ellipses,
that state as opposed to graves that are memory.
How we hear the galloping disaster. How we tune in
and out. Our jump-cut vision. What we conceal and what
we know. No franchise, no spoils, but new notes for return flight.

-- John Kinsella
"Incognito"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 25 June 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

“The Old Myth of Origins”

1 - Mono Men - Daylight
2 - The Mercury Program - Tequesta
3 - The Lipstick Killers - Hindu Gods Of Love
4 - Daikaiju - The Trouble With Those Mothra Girls
5 - 7 Negro - Surf & Roll
6 - Montesas - Space Walk Aloha
7 - Coyote Men - Mexican Divorce
8 - The Bikini Lovers - No No No

Station Break

9 - Los Straitjackets - Pacifica
10 - The Bambi Molesters - Farewell Malasana
11 - The Astroglides - Tantura Island
12 - Man or Astroman - Spferic Waves
13 - Aqua Velvets - Surf Nouveau
14 - Yo La Tengo - I Heard You Looking
15 - Tortoise - Swung From The Gutters

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Old man, you surface seldom.
Then you come in with the tide’s coming
When seas wash cold, foam-

Capped: white hair, white beard, far-flung,
A dragnet, rising, falling, as waves
Crest and trough. Miles long

Extend the radial sheaves
Of your spread hair, in which wrinkling skeins
Knotted, caught, survives

The old myth of origins
Unimaginable. You float near
As keeled ice-mountains

Of the north, to be steered clear
Of, not fathomed. All obscurity
Starts with a danger:

Your dangers are many. I
Cannot look much but your form suffers
Some strange injury

And seems to die: so vapors
Ravel to clearness on the dawn sea.
The muddy rumors

Of your burial move me
To half-believe: your reappearance
Proves rumors shallow,

For the archaic trenched lines
Of your grained face shed time in runnels:
Ages beat like rains

On the unbeaten channels
Of the ocean. Such sage humor and
Durance are whirlpools

To make away with the ground-
Work of the earth and the sky’s ridgepole.
Waist down, you may wind

One labyrinthine tangle
To root deep among knuckles, shin-
bones,
Skulls. Inscrutable,

Below shoulders not once
Seen by any man who kept his head,
You defy questions;

You defy godhood.
I walk dry on your kingdom’s border
Exiled to no good.

Your shelled bed I remember.
Father, this thick air is murderous.
I would breathe water.

  • Sylvia Plath
    “Full Fathom Five”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The Podcast for 18 June 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres is now available on the Spreaker Player!

“The Sky Scooped into Your Flashing Pupils”

1 - Os Mutantes - Tudo Foi Feito Pelo Sol
2 - Nato and Sahale - Jelassi
3 - Nicola Cruz - Cumbia del Olvido
4 - Skinshape - Oracolo
5 - Mild High Club - Windowpane
6 - Kent - Kärleken Väntar

Station Break

7 - Colin Stetson - The Sun Roars Into View
8 - Steve Cipriani - Soft Dream
9 - Yiruma - River Flows in You
10 - Abdullah Ibrahim - Mountain in the Night
11 - Josh Roseman Unit - Long Day Short Night

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You woke me up again. Cratylus.
Even with beeswax stuffed in my ear.
I could hear you howling
into the bathroom mirror. There there Cratylus.
Words can’t hurt anymore.

It would have been a beautiful night
otherwise. The sky. Our carbonated etcetera.
The sky scooped into your flashing pupils.
The monosyllabic sky. Opening its mouth
as self-incrimination.

You must’ve been frightened
when you opened the faucet and
night came pouring out. You didn’t think
it could get any weirder
than water. And now

here we are. With every faucet running. The stars getting stuck in the drain.
It’s gonna be okay. At first I thought my body was a dragon. Then
a tomb. Then a way of speaking. Now. Sitting here. Next to you.
It is only an opening. You have even begun dancing. Getting each vowel
to undulate into one vibrating river. Oh yes Cratylus

everything is on fire. You were right all along. You’re going to have to do
a lot more dancing. To see from up here. First. My body was a crisis. Then
an enigma. Then a liability. Now it is a brief encyclopedia. If you’re confused
Cratylus try saying it back to yourself in a palsied accent. So that each spasm
is a word turned inside out. So that knowledge is a dyskinetic hand

quickening against your cheek.
So that when you say
your name. Nobody will understand.
Oh Cratylus. Please.
No more crying.

No more faucets. No more bathroom
mirror. Pull each star
from the drain
and know. I can only
help by watching.

  • Latif Askia Ba
    “Cratylus”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The Podcast for 11 June 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres is now available on the Spreaker Player!

“You Finally Say to Yourself They Have Nothing I Want”
1 - Mandolin Orange - Old Ties And Companions
2 - John Little John - So Glad You're Mine
3 - Blind Boys of Alabama - Nobody's Fault But Mine
4 - Tin Hat Trio - The Longest Night
5 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Precious Memories
6 - Be Good Tanyas - Lonesome Blues
7 - Kate Wolf - These Times We're Living In

Station Break

8 - John Lee Hooker - Baby Lee
9 - The Holmes Brothers - There is a Train
10 - Gangstagrass - You Can Never Go Home Again
11 - Carolina Chocolate Drops - Leaving Eden
12 - Little Axe - Long Way to Go
13 - Chris Thomas King - Revelations
14 - Lightnin' Hopkins - It's a Sin to Be Rich, It's a Low Down Shame to Be Poor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mommy taught
3rd grade
Her book was The Longest
Way ’Round (Is The Shortest Way Home)

I was an adult
Before I realized
How True

Their marriage
Is none of your business
You don’t understand
Your parents don’t owe
You anything
You finally say to yourself:
They Have Nothing
I want
Except
I remember this Blue Book
With a wonderful title
My Mother West Wind Stories
And Mommy singing
“Time After Time”

It worked
I am Happy

  • Nikki Giovanni
    “The Longest Way ‘Round”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 4 June 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

“It Was So Obvious They Owned the Earth”

1 - Carl Sagan - Carry Us to The Stars
2 - French Rockets - 1 x 1
3 - Ulrich Schnauss - Stars
4 - Philip Glass - Kyoko’s House
5 - Kraftwerk - Radio Activity

Station Break

6 - Vangelis - Création du Monde
7 - Tangerine Dream - Stratos Fear
8 - Stereolab - Parsec
9 - Velvet Dreamer - Clouds Drifting By

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the dream, the devis were different—
dancing with arms out, breasts
to the wind, glorious. It was so obvious
they owned the earth.
Who could have created them?
Each one laughing larger
than the other, echoes like shots
fired to the horizon, remarkable blue
of expansion. No tree in sight, the night
then nothing. Me and my girlfriends
paused at the clearing. Hands by our thighs,
eyes blinking. We could not believe it.
Did our mothers know? Did our grandmothers?
The devis in their temples were small—
hands laden with food or flowers.
And where were the gods—the husbands?
Where were the children? Were we allowed
such freedom? We were dressed
for our class 12 farewell party,
our mothers’ favorite sarees,
hot pink and jazz, ready for the world
under the Saket mall, the stuffy basement
of mocktails and men’s armpits.
Could we stay? Here, in this vision?
DJ devi yelled to the others—Come on!
She swerved and the circle expanded.
Our hair was itchy. In we melted,
copying their steps, mirroring
their breaths, our long singing necks.

  • Kuhu Joshi

“Till There Were No Stars”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 21 May 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

“Myrrhed Prayers & Libations on an African Altar”

1 - Little Axe - Long Way to Go
2 - Baby Huey - Hard Times
3 - Little Sister - Stanga
4 - Isaac Hayes - Walk on By
5 - Otis Redding - More Than Words Can Say
6 - Winston Curtis - Be Thankful For What You Got
7 - Nina Simone - See line Women - Joseph Remix

Station Break

8 - Azymuth - Linha Do Horizonte
9 - Duda Beat - Bédi Beat
10 - Vanessa Da Mata - Segue o Som
11 - Gilberto Gil - Toda Menina Baiana
12 - Lila Downs - Mi Corazon me Recuerda
13 - Quantic & Nidia Góngora - Que Me Duele
14 - Jorge Ben Jor - Errare Humanum Est

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

as i swallow
the last morsel of a little green apple
blessed with myrrhed prayers & libations on an african altar

in a gothic cathedral
where with banners from all corners of our country
freed from the prejudice of a dozen years’ politics of greed

thousands gather on king’s day
to ground sorrow at a sister’s recent passing
(lorde we testify)
drum up her spirit along a cascading rainbow
to the orishas’ paradise

the juice snakes sweetly down my throat & circles my veins
it loosens my tingling toes stiffened
by neuropathy

armed only with a white candle that flares its last flames
i march out into the dark hell of
our big apple

  • Assotto Saint
    “Audre’s Apples”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 7 May 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

“And Heart Eats All the World”

1 - Dum Dum Girls - Bedroom Eyes
2 - Pacha Massive - Don't Let Go
3 - Terno Rei - Solidão de Volta
4 - Duda Beat - Bixinho
5 - La Buena Vida - Trigo Limpio
6 - Abdullah Chhadeh and Syriana - Ana Araby
7 - GoJam Group - Periplanisi

Station Break

8 - Olasonic -- Neda
9 - Japancakes - Soft N EZ
10 - Baiana System - Miçanga
11 - Tribalistas - Carnavália
12 - Jorge Ben - Ôba Lá Vem Ela
13 - Thievery Corporation - All That We Perceive

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you can taste the oak in aging love,
then no betrayal overcomes the taste
of smoke on the lips and fire in the throat.
You drank some drug that no blood test can trace.

Love asks every thing, but will take nothing
for an answer. How you savored feta,
olive oil, oregano. Your wit rang
a blue note in sullen America.

And if you're gone, I'm not. The love goes on.
It has its own life, eating through the heart,
and heart eats all the world, the sight, the sound,

the scent you left, that I might track you by,
the road we staggered drunkenly to art.
Open your hand. Let you fly, let me fly.

  • Wendy Battin
    “Bourbon with Petrarch”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The Podcast for 30 April 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres is now available on the Spreaker Player!

"Until the Meditative Gesture Becomes You”

1- Battant - Radio Rod
2 - Pintandwefall - Jail
3 - TV Off - Car is on Fire
4 - Röyksopp - What Else Is There?
5 - Rotersand - Truth Is Fanatic
6 - Chromatics - Shadow
7 - Salomé Leclerc - Tourne Encore

Station Break

8 - Kate Wolf - These Times We're Living In
9 - Robbie Basho - Blue Crystal Fire
10 - Frazey Ford - Lost Together
11 - Yellow House - Aint Gonna Call
12 - Karen O - Hello Tomorrow
13 - Beth Orton - She Cries Your Name
14 - Nouvelle Vague - In A Manner Of Speaking

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why bother to lift the cloud's galvanic veil?
Why remove the halo contact lenses
from my solid white eyes?

If so many crows like to watch the blurred
screen of my face, how can I be expected
to understand the truth of the obstinate
fire hydrant? The meaning of the space
between the prongs of the unplugged iron?

Maybe it's enough to bask in the shadows
of the thighs of the monumental icon,
to rescue dented souls with the tongs
of a sparkling imagination, to stretch out

on the floor of our carpeted basement,
counting the heads of our ceramic turtle collection
until the meditative gesture
becomes you, and you it.

So don't ask me to sleep on the other side
of the bottled-water bed.

Don't tell me to flick on the light and stop
drinking cocoa from the Van Gogh
museum's ear-shaped mug.

Yes, there may be a river of tomato-juice blood
surrounding our neoclassical-pueblo duplex condo,
but that doesn't mean the blinds should be open,
and everything allowed in.

  • Joanna Fuhrman

“The World is Burning, but Everyone Needs Sleep”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The Podcast for 23 April 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres is now available on the Spreaker Player!

"I Felt Myself Held in That Woods of Hating Longing

1 - Lady Wray - Guilty
2 - Los Yesterdays - Nobody's Clown
3 - Thee Lakesiders - Can't Fool Me Twice
4 - Friends of Distinction - Going in Circles
5 - Color Us People Band - A Day Without Your Love
6 - Durand Jones & The Indications - Circles
7 - Thee Sacred Souls - Will I See You Again?

Station Break

8 - Shocking Blue - Never Marry A Railroad Man
9 - Paul Cherry - Like Yesterday
10 - Parcels - Overnight
11 - Khruangbin - Cómo Me Quieres
12 - Skinshape - Flight of the Erhu
13 - The Sound Defects - Angels
14 - Thievery Corporation - Resolution

As we sat at the feet of the string quartet,
in their living room, on a winter night,
through the hardwood floor spurts and gulps
and tips and shudders came up, and the candle-scent
air was thick-alive with pearwood,
ebony, spruce, poplar, and horse
howled, and cat skreeled, and then,
when the Grösse Fugue was around us, under us,
over us, in us, I felt I was hearing
the genes of my birth-family, pulled, keening
and grieving and scathing, along each other,
scraping and craving, I felt myself held in that
woods of hating longing, and I knew
and knew myself, and my parents, and their parents,
there—and then, at a distance, I sensed,
as if it were thirty years ago,
a being, far off yet, oblique-approaching,
straying toward, and then not toward,
and then toward this place, like a wandering dreaming
herdsman, my husband. And I almost wanted
to warn him away, to call out to him
to go back whence he came, into some calmer life,
but his beauty was too moving to me,
and I wanted too much to not be alone, in the
covert, any more, and so I prayed him
come to me, I bid him hasten, and good welcome.

  • Sharon Olds
    “Chamber Thicket”

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The Podcast for 16 April 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres is now available on the Spreaker Player!

"Because Desire is Full of Endless Distances”

1 - Orkestra Obsolete - Blue Monday
2 - The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
3 - The Speakeasy Three - When I Get Low I Get High
4 - Post Modern Jukebox - All About That Bass
5 - Röyksopp - What Else Is There?
6 - Chromatics - Shadow
7 - Peter Green - Slabo Day

Station Break

8 - Takuya Kuroda - Everybody Loves The Sunshine
9 - Jacob Gurevitsch - Lovers in Paris
10 - Alain Bashung - Immortels
11 - Sophie Hunger - Le Vent Nous Portera
12 - Nouvelle Vague - In A Manner Of Speaking
13 - The Liminanas and Bertrand Belin - Dimanche

All the new thinking is about loss.
In this it resembles all the old thinking.
The idea, for example, that each particular erases
the luminous clarity of a general idea. That the clown-
faced woodpecker probing the dead sculpted trunk
of that black birch is, by his presence,
some tragic falling off from a first world
of undivided light. Or the other notion that,
because there is in this world no one thing
to which the bramble of blackberry corresponds,
a word is elegy to what it signifies.
We talked about it late last night and in the voice
of my friend, there was a thin wire of grief, a tone
almost querulous. After a while I understood that,
talking this way, everything dissolves: justice,
pine, hair, woman, you and I. There was a woman
I made love to and I remembered how, holding
her small shoulders in my hands sometimes,
I felt a violent wonder at her presence
like a thirst for salt, for my childhood river
with its island willows, silly music from the pleasure boat,
muddy places where we caught the little orange-silver fish
called pumpkinseed. It hardly had to do with her.
Longing, we say, because desire is full
of endless distances. I must have been the same to her.
But I remember so much, the way her hands dismantled bread,
the thing her father said that hurt her, what
she dreamed. There are moments when the body is as numinous
as words, days that are the good flesh continuing.
Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings,
saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry.

  • Robert Haas
    “Meditation at Lagunitas”

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There's a slow train rollin'
It's blowin' around the bend
And there's a flag-drapped coffin
In the last car of that rollin' train

(refrain) No one really knows him
Except maybe his comrades in arms
And the few people who loved him
Who live near the hills
Of the setting sun

He had a young wife and a baby
He had a car and a garden, too
They said he died for freedom
And for the old Red, White and Blue

(refrain) No one really knows him
Except maybe his comrades in arms
And the few people who loved him
Who live near the hills
Of the setting sun

He never made a big plan
Except to take care of those
He was closest to
Maybe teach a bible class
And protect the old Red, White and Blue

(refrain) No one really knows him
Except maybe his comrades in arms
And the few people who loved him
Who live near the hills
Of the setting sun.

He owned a store that sold electronics
He gave some weekends to the old Red, White and Blue
He never questioned the reason
When the president said, 'there's some fightin' to do'

(refrain) No one really knows him
Except maybe his comrades in arms
And the few people who loved him
Who live near the hills
Of the setting sun.

He drove a load of bandages
Under a Red Cross and a Crescent Moon
His truck then exploded
A thousand pieces of the old Red, White and Blue

(instrumental refrain)

There's a slow train rollin'
It's blowin' around the bend
And there's a flag-drapped coffin
In the last car of that rollin' train

No one really knows him

______
"No One Really Knows Him"
music and lyrics by Justice Putnam

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The Podcast for 9 April 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Easter Special Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres is now available on the Spreaker Player!

"His Hands and Feet are Wounded”

1 - Mount Madonna Choir — "Jubilate Deo"
2 - Woods - "Pick Up"
3 - Iron and Wine - "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car"
4 - Sibylle Baier - "The End"
5 - Vashti Bunyan - "Here Before"
6 - Suuns - "Sunspot"
7 - Dead Man's Bones - “Lose Your Soul"
8 - Sparklehorse - "Sea Of Teeth"

Station Break

9 - Pernice Brothers - "Baby In Two"
10 - Daughter - "Candles"
11 - I Break Horses - "Hearts"
12 - Toro y Moi - "So Many Details"
13 - Local Natives - "Palms"
14 - Pink Martini - "Bolero"
15 - Mercedes Peon - "Maravilha"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The men that cut their graves in the grey rocks
Go down more slowly than the sun upon their dusty country:
White as the wall, the weepers leave the town,
To be the friends of grief, and follow
To the new tomb a widow’s sorrow.
The men with hands as hard as rope,
(Some smell of harvests, some of nets,) the strangers,
Come up the hill more slowly than the seasons of the year.“Why do you walk in funerals, you men of Naim,
Why go you down to graves, with eyes like winters,
And your cold faces clean as cliffs?
See how we come, our brows are full of sun,
Our smiles are fairer than the wheat and hay,
Our eyes are saner than the sea.
Lay down your burden at our four-roads’ crossing,
And learn a wonder from the Christ, our Traveller.” (Oh, you will say that those old times
Are all dried up like water,
Since the great God went walking on a road to Naim,
How many hundred years has slept again in death
That widow’s son, after the marvel of his miracle:
He did not rise for long, and sleeps forever.
And what of the men of the town?
What have the desert winds done to the dust
Of the poor weepers, and the widow’s friends?)The men that cut their graves in the grey rocks
Spoke to the sons of God upon the four cross roads:
“Men of Genesareth, who climb our hill as slow as spring or summer,
Christ is your Master, and we see His eyes are Jordans,
His hands and feet are wounded, and His words are wine.
He has let death baptize the one who stirs and wakens
In the bier we carry,
That we may read the Cross and Easter in this rising,
And learn the endless heaven
Promised to all the widow-Church’s risen children.”

-- Thomas Merton
"The Widow of Naim"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The Podcast for 2 April 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres is now available on the Spreaker Player!

"Sung in a Strained Louche Unison”

1 - Carl Sagan - Carry Us to The Stars
2 - French Rockets - 1 x 1
3 - Ulrich Schnauss - Stars
4 - Philip Glass - Kyoko’s House
5 - Kraftwerk - Radio Activity

Station Break

6 - Vangelis - Création du Monde
7 - Tangerine Dream - Stratos Fear
8 - Stereolab - Parsec
9 - Velvet Dreamer - Clouds Drifting By

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pre-revolutionary New Wave nunsin La Religieuse’s worse first convent, locked up
for everything, slip little scribbled paper slips

into a small wooden box at mass, one by one
in a soft stone room
where the cinematography’s saturation

and a creamy blue nimbus
emanating from every surface
make the movie theater’s patrons’ faces

look like crickets twitching in a nebula,
an orchestra drowning in its pit. “That looks fun,”
whispered one to the left of me,

“do you think they’re voting?” You know
some artful gravity beyond the screen
might just be. Anna Karina rats on them

and gets out in the end. But it’s not the end.
If you think this damp little room you live in
is all that’s holding you

you’re right. Every second is a door
bolted shut. You can hear your music
behind a few, but only one or two will open.

Anna’s second convent seems
better at first—carnations
who knew she’d missed them all winter, chords

to a popular ballad tapped out in code
and sung in a strained, louche unison
replacing those lonesome hymns

in praise of nothing but reward—
but then the final shot crosses
all of it out. The mess they leave her in

feels pretty uncalled for, to say the least.
There’s no third convent,
no exit theme, and when the lights go up

you’re not as glad to have witnessed it
as to see the one who was talking trash,
a sentence drumming in your throat.

  • Daniel Poppick
    “Lugubrious Stars of the Tomb”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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“Do you smell that?” she asked, as we drove through Reims, past the headquarters of the National Front, on our way to La Tranche sur Mer.“I don’t know,” I said flatly, “what is it?”“It smells like… ” she sniffed in a haughty, Parisian disdain, “it smells like, fascism.”I knew then I was in love with her. I knew it truly.

– Justice Putnam
“My Little French Honeymoon”

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The Podcast for 19 March 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres is now available on Spreaker!

"What Makes Her Look Away?"

1 - Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
2 - Marty Robbins - Love is Blue
3 - Matt Munro - On Days Like These
4 - Steve Cipriani - Soft Dream
5 - Hiroshi Suzuki - Romance
6 - The Shaolin Afronauts - Shira

Station Break

7 - Dengue Fever - Ghost Voice
8 - Rubba - Scapement
9 - The Dø - Despair, Hangover & Ecstasy
10 - Saâda Bonaire - You Could Be More as You Are
11 - Lena Platonos - Shadow Of Blood

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It bothers me, this feeling of trespassing,
taking certain bus routes
from Walthamstow, from Elephant and Castle.

Their colourful clothes, their dreadlocks,
the curiosity in that young boy's stare,
his white teeth when he smiles.

I catch one white woman saying to another,
"I wouldn't like my children growing up here.
It's so . . . multicultural."

What makes her look away? Why does she tremble?
Who are those in parka jackets, waiting in the darkness
for the first bus in Hounslow, in Tooting, in Oval?

Baristas. Cleaners. Bus drivers. Sales assistants.
Lives measured in shifts and toilet breaks,
happiness in the annual leave they take.

What about that man in the local
chicken shop? He's been frying drumsticks
for years and years. Does he ever speak?

I know who that Chinese girl is outside
Canary Wharf station, handing leaflets
to passers-by, on a weekend, for a few quid.

She studies management by day
and in the evening swipes meats and fruits
at the counter, but she'd stoop for any

job in this country, if it means she can stay.
Why does the Uber driver tell me
his story? He works seven days a week,

has never been to the theatre.
In Pakistan, his father is dying.
He's saving every penny for his children.

Nothing you can't buy with money. He smiles.
The cab passes slowly through the streets
in Chelsea, disappears into the traffic.

  • Jennifer Wong
    “The Colour of Race”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The Podcast for 12 March 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres is now available on Spreaker!

"The World is Burning”
1 - Kitaro - Silk Road
2 - Isao Tomita - Shin Nihon Kikou
3 - Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence
4 - Joe Hisaishi - The Rain
5 - Ikagi - I Awake

Station Break

6 - Hiroshima - Kokoro
7 - Yoshida Brothers - Moyuru
8 - Beni Ninagawa- Lycoris
9 - Otyken - Storm
10 - Wagakki Band - Senbonzakura
11 - Dengue Fever - Tiger Phone Card

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again this year I’ve failed the peonies that came to us
when we bought our house in summer, not knowing what
pink and white glory grew in the northwest. After the first May,

still childless, seeing how a single bloom could overflow
the cup of my hands, the stems bowing to the ground
under their weight, I bought cages to circle the red shoots

after they crowned but only used them once. Arrow-like
as they emerge from the earth, the just unfurling leaves
look like fingers, reminiscent of intestinal villi and sea anemones,

moving with unexpected purpose. It is the force that through
the green fuse drives the flower, drives me to try and fail
again to conceive, which turns the leaves green, my eyes green,

everything greening and growing before my scaffolding
is in place. Again this year I’ve failed, but I haven’t been outside
in eight weeks without precautions against “the sickness”

as we’ve come to call it in our house, long days spent only
with my children, four and six, and my husband. A surly demand,
a dropped dish, misplaced keys, and I find myself wearing a crown

of overtowering rage, like the sun’s corona flaring,
the outermost layers of atmosphere flung violently into space,
invisible to most instruments except during a total solar eclipse,

as in 1869, when scientists detected a spectral green line,
possible indication of a new element they called coronium,
but in 1943, that grassy green was identified as iron

in a forbidden transition, half its electrons stripped away
by heat exceeding a million degrees. The world is burning
while I drift in a bubble of comfort but seized by anger

day after day until one evening I step out to find the peonies
that have managed to stay upright now reach my hips,
the pinks already perfuming the air, the whites still closed

tighter than a fist. The next morning I wake
with my grandmother’s voice in my ears, something
about mislaid glasses, and for long moments, I can’t recall

if she’s dead or alive. When I remember she’s gone,
I sob, unable to control my shudders, waking my daughter
who uncurls from my side and asks, “Why are you crying?”

How to explain the weight of loss pressing down
after a brief reprieve. The weight of a knee on a neck.
Children in detention while pandemic spreads. I don’t.

Instead I say, “I miss my grandmother who died.”
She gently pats my cheeks, then presses her forehead
against mine, so close all I see is the dark Cyclopean

blur of her eyes. Maybe it’s better to be unmoored
by rage and grief, to burn away that which binds us,
enriching the earth, making space for new growth.

Maybe my inability to cage a living thing isn’t
a failing at all. Better to let the green drive us
in a wild unfettered tangle, blooming or not,

to feel the comfort of my daughter’s touch, the renewal
of pain a small price for my grandmother alive again
in my mind while the peonies dive headfirst into the dirt.

  • Heyjung Kook
    “Spring Coronal”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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“Do you smell that?” she asked, as we drove through Reims, past the headquarters of the National Front, on our way to La Tranche sur Mer.“I don’t know,” I said flatly, “what is it?”“It smells like… ” she sniffed in a haughty, Parisian disdain, “it smells like, fascism.”I knew then I was in love with her. I knew it truly.

– Justice Putnam
“My Little French Honeymoon”

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 5 March 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Watching the Passing Waves of Humanity”

1 - The Replacements - Unsatisfied
2 - Echo & The Bunnymen - Evergreen
3 - The Psychedelic Furs - The Ghost In You
4 - Style Council - The Lodgers
5 - Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
6 - Siouxsie & the Banshees - Christine
7 - The Pretenders - Kid
8 - The Stranglers - No More Heroes
Station Break
9 - U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name
10 - The B-52's - Planet Claire
11 - The English Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom
12 - The Specials - Ghost Town
13 - The Clash - Police On My Back
14 - Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
15 - Dire Straits - Wild West End

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Who luvs ya, baby?
The writer looks back, year
by year, star after star, ever
and anon. "I came out singing,

sailing, and gliding on beauty."
The writer remembers
the river, hills, and flowers.

"I lived like a landscape with
a large glacier in its midst."
Let us imagine him in stone,

devoted to a life of posterity
and the idea of the future,
Watching the passing waves

of humanity, outlasting the world.
"I believe in objects more
than subjects. Art is the failure

of the subject. Objects are true."
His mind becomes itself a subject,
subordinate to a twisted sense

of historical proportion, clinging
to sublimity and preservation.
"I think of my life as a skeleton

and modern times as a funeral.
I belong to the future, like a green
sea, like the sun, like the sky."

  • Joshua Edwards
    “The Lamp of Memory”

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​12-String Ovation Balladeer, Astoria, Oregon - copyright Justice Putnam

Musiques sans Frontieres Podcast Archive

​Holy Bible and Three in One Oil, Berkeley, California copyright Justice Putnam
Kagro in the Morning with David Waldman, Vintage James Baldwin, Labor History, Native American Documentaries, Majority Report, RadioLabor News, The Left Show, Let's Speak Native with John Kane, Democracy Now, The David Packman Show, In Deep with Angie Coiro, The Professional Left with Driftglass & Blue Gal, Thom Hartmann, Jim Hightower, Green News Report, Randi Rhodes, The Tim Corrimal Show, ACLU Minutes, Breaking Through with Mom's Rising, The BradCast, Eclectic Mixes by Spc Agnt DJ Justice, Nicole Sandler, The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow, The Mike Malloy Show, Health, Science & History Specials, your Netroots Radio Favorites... and so much more, on right now!Go ahead, now you can listen while roaming the Big Orange and beyond!

​Sunlight and Water Pitcher, Muir Beach, California / copyright Justice Putnam

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Voices and Soul appears on Black Kos Tuesday's Chile; poetry chosen and critiqued by Black Kos Poetry Editor, Justice Putnam.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
​Cut Stones and Arch St Ceneri, France / copyright Justice Putnam

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Do you smell that?” she asked, as we drove through Reims, past the headquarters of the National Front, on our way to La Tranche sur Mer.“I don’t know,” I said flatly, “what is it?”“It smells like… ” she sniffed in a haughty, Parisian disdain, “it smells like, fascism.”I knew then I was in love with her. I knew it truly.– Justice Putnam“My Little French Honeymoon”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Question: Who is your audience? What are you here for?Answer: Tribal Alliances, Heart-felt Convictions, Passionate Reason, Random Abandon, Sustainable Civility and a kiss; to comfort the sad and the mad Ones; the Ones roaming the International section of the American Supermarket at night; or roaming the neglected streets looking for an angry malaprop to sink their teeth into; the Ones who seek without seeking and learn as much as they teach; the Ones who embrace and kiss and embrace again; the Ones who sing the song of the city and the ballads of the forest; the Ones who chant the rhythm of the sea and hum the melody of the desert; the Ones who sing the prayer of Her name and Her name is the World. Yes, those are the Ones. -- JP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​Man, Girl and Broken Window, Klamath Falls, Oregon / copyright Justice Putnam
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Give me a church
made entirely of salt.
Let the walls hiss​Israel “Izzy Maq Styles” Putnam 2 Oct 1977 — 30 Dec 2018

and smoke when
I return to shore.

I ask for the grace
of a new freckle
on my cheek, the lift
of blue and my mother’s
soapy skin to greet me.

Hide me in a room
with no windows.
Never let me see
the dolphins leaping
into commas

for this water-prayer
rising like a host
of sky lanterns into
the inky evening.
Let them hang

in the sky until
they vanish at the edge
of the constellations —
the heroes and animals
too busy and bright to notice.

— Aimee Nezhukumatathil

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The playlist for 26 February 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"The Leopard Walks on Water"

1 - Salif Keita et Les Ambassadeurs - Seydou
2 - Andrea Echeverri - Aterciopelados Que Te Besen
3 - Astor Piazzolla - Invierno Porteno
4 - Orlando Cachaito Lopez - Redencion
5 - Los Bitchos - Pista

Station Break

6 - Arlindo Cruz - Meu Lugar
7 - Paco Ibanez - Los Versos Mas Tristres
8 - Virginia Rodriguez & Caetano Veloso - Jeito Faceiro
9 - Jorge Ben Jor - Magnólia
10 - Os Originais do Samba - Falador Passa Mal
11 - Konteks - City Samba
12 - Academia da Berlinda - Só De Tú
13 - Phillipi & Rodrigo - Retrogrado

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why is there (under this sea) always
an other sea? Scrolling through miles
of leopard-print bikinis, I wonder, could I go
“all out”? Just imagine where my cleavage should peak,
would peek from under—do I go for side or classic?
Which stretch marks will I sun, running
like shoals of mica palmed by waves?
Will I add a shell
accent?

Some saddie on the web says,
a hungry moon snail made the mark,
says, moon snails release an acid
to soften the shell, then drill a borehole
(a toothed tongue) and feed off the meat
of the “victim.” What if I lost

these breasts altogether? I’m hunting.
Another saddie says, those holes were made
by a boring sponge, drilling holes
into shells for their calcium.

The leopard walks on water. Their claws
just prick the surface without going under.
You’re a heavy cat, and I wish I had you-
r muscle. Just imagine. I could love it.

  • Layla Benitez-James
    “Stop & Look, Alicante”

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The playlist for 19 February 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Weeping Into a Featherless Sky"

1 - Lido Pimienta & Li Saumet - Nada
2 - Evinha - Esperar Pra Ver
3 - Rita Lee - Mania De Você
4 - Novos Baianos - Dê um Rolê
5 - Marcos Valle - Nao Tem Nada Nao
6 - Pacha Massive - Don't Let Go
7 - Montefiori Cocktail - Anamaria

Station Break

8 - Jorge Ben - Chove Chuva
9 - Luedji Luna - Um Corpo no Mundo
0 - Tribalistas - Carnavália
11 - Baiana System - Miçanga
12 - Terno Rei - Solidão de Volta
13 - New Trolls - Paolo E Francesca
14 - Duda Beat - Bixinho

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nights I couldn’t sleep
my mother sang to me
about a boy who wanted
to be flown into heaven.

Everyday, climbing up
the tower he lived in
to see the blue doves
flying by, and everyday,

climbing down, weeping
into a featherless sky.
Sometimes I think of
what it was like for him,

wingless, after the song:
his second life repeating
in the otherworld where
music waits to be sung.

  • Francisco Márquez
    “Lullaby”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.The playlist for 5 February 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Leaving Empty Rooms Behind"

1 - Odetta - Sail Away Ladies
2 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Precious Memories
3 - Harry Belafonte & Miriam Makeba - Malaika
4 - Sam & Dave - If Something is Wrong with My Baby
5 - Etta James - Don't Cry Baby
6 - Abbey Lincoln - Nature Boy
7 - Robert Cray - I Was Warned

Station Break

8 - John Lee Hooker - I Cover The Waterfront
9 - War - Sweet Fighting Lady
10 - The Blackbyrds - Dreaming About You
11 - Carla Thomas - When Tomorrow Comes
12 - Durand Jones & The Indications - Too Many Tears
13 - R L Burnside - Shake ‘em On Down Remix

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Who luvs ya, baby?Jacob Lawrence
Could paint
The beauty
Of bareness

Blacks
Moved North
Leaving
Empty
Rooms
Behind
Them

Lawrence’s genius
Was to paint
Those rooms
Left behind

Brown bare
Wooden rooms
Light brown plank walls
Dark brown plank floors

A single dark green
Shade
Covering
The window
Erasing the lush landscape

Creating a
Stark beauty
A simple beauty
A bare beauty

  • William J Harris
    “The Beauty of Bareness”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 22 January 23 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"About Suffering They Were Never Wrong"

1 - Gordon Lightfoot - Is There Anyone Home?
2 - The Byrds - Everybody's Been Burned
3 - Jim Croce - New York's Not My Home
4 - Harry Chapin - Northwest 222
5 - Richard & Mimi Farina - Pack Up Your Sorrows
6 - Buffalo Springfield - Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing
7 - Grateful Dead - Candyman
8 - Roberta Flak - Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye

Station Break

9 - Joan Baez - You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
10 - Blood, Sweat & Tears - Lisa, Listen to Me
11 - Jeff Beck Group - Got the Feeling
12 - Bobbi Humphrey - New York Times
13 - Marvin Gaye - Yesterday
14 - Marianne Faithful - It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
15 - The Staple Singers - Freedom Highway

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along

How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Brueghel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

  • WH Auden
    “Musée des Beaux Arts”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 18 December 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"We Remember Each Other Through These Bones"

1 - Grateful Dead - Box of Rain
2 - Frazey Ford - Lost Together
3 - Porno For Pyros - 100 Ways
4 - Les Negresses Vertes - L’ Homme des Marais
5 - Rainstick Orchestra - Waltz for a Little Bird
6 - Badmarsh & Shri - Signs

Station Break

7 - Vangelis & Jean Michel Jarre - Alpha
8 - Japancakes - Elephants
9 - Ulrich Schnauss - A Million Miles Away
10 - Thievery Corporation - Resolution

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scrabbling bones together like a gathering of river stones
Bones become sacred
Human remains, memories of cartilage
Piled centuries high
Skulls and leg remnants begin to tell the stories of before.
I am the once-severed arm of a young girl
Scrambling for a foothold in this desert
Where once my enemy chased did not live
I am the fingers of a woman whose knuckles live beneath a flower box
We remember each other through these bones
Through the songs of calcium deficiency and famine strings that strum us into night
We are the gathering of old-timers whose eye sockets tell stories of victory
We are a memory shaped by vertebrae
Clappers of rhythm disassembled by the skeletons of time
I am the keeper of a man whose only hope was grounding toil
Scrubbing my skin with the earth for food
I am the elbow of children whose eyes switched at the thought of cold
I am the shin of garbage collectors building stamina for a city to come
We are a memory shaped by vertebrae
Clappers of rhythm disassembled by the skeletons of time
We are the dissipating by the skeletons of time
We are the dissipating cartilage of our great-grandchildren's memory holding to their sockets by a sinew of hope
Making sense of these bones we reassemble history
Making ancestral tapestries in the shape of retaining walls
We are a memory shaped by a vertebrae
Clappers of rhythm disassembled by the skeletons of time
You are the skin behind the clouds

Matthew Shenoda
“Relics”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 4 December 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"When People Gathered Simply to Listen to Fire"

1 - Michelle Gurevich - Russian Romance
2 - Beirut - Postcards from Italy
3 - Amy Winehouse - Wake Up Alone
4 - Still Corners - Sad Movies
5 - Polo & Pan - Pays Imaginaire
6 - Panthera - Voyager

Station Break

7 - Phantogram - When I'm Small
8 - Balthazar - Fever
9 - Madrugada - Sirens
10 - Jamiroquai - Everyday
11 - AKmusique - Ocean Drive 707
12 - Khruangbin - So We Won't Forget

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rosario did not live long into our digital age and certainly never saw or
dreamed screens in every hand, much less flooding every head. Already
it was bad enough, she said, that telenovelas in her beloved México
had displaced both Homer and Scheherazade, not to mention the days
when people gathered simply to listen to fire. A neighbor brings the last
of his garden’s kale, which I take to a ninety-eight-year-old friend
whose eyes well up at the thought of strong kale soup and how very kind
most people are. A woman who sets the example of at least one mitzvah
every day, what she calls the absolute minimum for anyone human.
My neighbor, the one with the kale, is the son of a double immigrant.
His father was a Catalán who decamped to France—guess when—
and later northern California. I’ve wondered if this man was among
the huge crowds that survivors of the Abe Lincoln Brigade
attracted in Berkeley well into the late nineties. Delmer Berg,
last of the twenty-eight hundred Lincolns, died in San Francisco,
February 2016, one-hundred-and-one years old. Today a gardener
raises index and middle finger in front of his eyes, a sign for “Let’s
look at it.” We are both speaking Spanish, but his thinking is it never
hurts to repeat, whatever the case. See what I’m saying?
The Mexican women in my family see beyond the usual senses.
Always have done. My Yucatán Maya-Spanish grandma asking ¿Qué te pasa?
when clearly she already knew. Whatever it was. This year on her birthday,
thirty-five years after her death, a calla dormant in my garden for seven years
sends up a tiny bud that blooms days later on her elder daughter’s birthday.
That daughter, my mother. The calla, my mother’s favorite. Last year we
buried Mami in a basket under dozens of callas tied with hand-woven Mexican
belts. See what I’m saying? I don’t know if the Greek women in my family
have second sight because I don’t know them. But I do know a second cousin
I’ve never met searched the internet for kin of her grandmother Amirza’s
little brother who left their island for America at fourteen, never to be seen
by his family again. This cousin found me via a TV documentary where I
recount the confusions of a mixed-blood descendant of the Mexican revolution.
María Zouni Tsimourtos was born on Imbros, but the family left when
the Turkish government took the last Greek farms in 1964. Our great-
grandmother, mother of Amirza and my grandpa, was named Sultana,
commonly a Turkish name. And here am I, a mestiza’s mestiza who wept
only one of the many times I’ve been called half-breed. I know irony like a
second skin, haphazard skein of blood weaving a cloak of many stories
and tongues. My neighbor, the one who grows kale, spoke French as a
first language, not Spanish. Because his father was raised speaking Catalán,
not Spanish, then wisely favored French safety just across the border
and later put his son in San Francisco’s French American Bilingual School.
Oh, do see this world chasing its million and one tales, sight unseen,
all language common mistranslation yet most precious lost and found.

  • Rosemary Catacalos
    “Sight Unseen”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/4/2139994/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-When-People-Gathered-Simply-to-Listen-to-Fire

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 27 November 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"They Walk Nimbly and Bloodied"

1 - Churupaca - Duda Morena
2 - Jamie Roos - La Hermana de la Coneja
3 - Mateus Aleluia - Fogueira Doce
4 - Bersuit Vergarabat - Negra Murguera
5 - Loli Cosmica & Ras Lobinho - Soy Feliz

Station Break

6 - Los Espíritus - Noches De Verano
7 - Nicola Cruz - Folha de Jurema
8 - El Búho - Mirando El Fuego
9 - Nick Barbachano - Plantas Sagradas
10 - Minük - Gente Mariposa
11 - Lucas Santtana - Mensagem de Amor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was at first a single image.
A mirage-like illusional dance
Wavering and decomposing in the
Distance like a plastic mosaic.
Then it cleared.
Not one but three Bothisattvas
Suspended in a cloud of yellow dust
Just above the rows of cotton
Galloping comically on skeletal mounts
Across the arid, sponge-like lust
Of a desiccated desert.
They ride by, shouting in ruthless unison
The name of Jesus, across the valley
Halting not for an instant in their trek
To the distant sea.
The cool sea.
With flame throwers for nostrils
Their horses flee
Abreast the three
Halting whole freeways of awe-stricken traffic
And scattering chattering choppers
Welcoming the enormous episode as an excuse
For frolic and fanfare.
They enter the sea and immediately get
Cut down by surf boards sharp as razors
And oil-well derricks entangle them
And the horses, not being divine, drown.
And the Bothisattvas, mountless in the mire
Choke and struggle, making the Long Beach
Waters thick with blood, mud and crude oil.
But they are determined, and they walk
Nimbly and bloodied on the cracked-mirror
Surface with all the humility of the East
Then they forget and break into a run
Leaving bloodied footprints upon the blue waters,
Running, running, toward the setting sun.
Shouting, Jesus saves!
In ruthless unison.

  • José Montoya
    “Sunstruck While Chopping Cotton”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/27/2138649/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-They-Walk-Nimbly-and-Bloodied

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 20 November 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"The Roots of Her Hair Are Starting To Shimmer"

1 - Chelou - Halfway to Nowhere
2 - The Abyssinians - Declaration of Rights
3 - Hollie Cook - Milk & Honey
4 - Thievery Corporation - Amerimacka
5 - Joep Beving - Venus
6 - Os Originais do Samba - Falador Passa Mal
7 - Konteks - City Samba

Station Break

8 - Loli Cosmica - Tzen Tze Re Rei
9 - Virginia Rodriguez & Caetano Veloso - Jeito Faceiro
10 - Lido Pimienta & Li Saumet - Nada
11 - Nicola Cruz - Cumbia del Olvido
12 - El Búho - Xica Xica
13 - Academia da Berlinda - Dorival

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I was a boy
I was either a child eating bugs
or a child being eaten by bugs, but
now that I am older am I a man
who devours the world or am I a man
being devoured by the world?
Someone once told me that mothers
come from a different planet. And if she was correct
then my mother was a warrior from that planet.
And now that my mother is older the history
that is her face is starting to look like a worn map.
The hills that once were her cheeks now have roads
carved into them that tell her secrets.
The roots of her hair are starting to shimmer with silver
that she colors once she sees ten or more.
She no longer cares for long hair.
She says pelo largo is a young woman’s game.
In a few years she will be older than my grandmother
ever was.

  • Luis Daniel Salgado
    “Mi Casa”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/20/2137515/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-The-Roots-of-Her-Hair-Are-Starting-To-Shimmer

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 13 November 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Where Every Tree Became a Story"

1 - Lady Wray - Guilty
2 - Los Yesterdays - Nobody's Clown
3 - Thee Lakesiders - Can't Fool Me Twice
4 - Friends of Distinction - Going in Circles
5 - Color Us People Band - A Day Without Your Love
6 - Durand Jones & The Indications - Circles
7 - Thee Sacred Souls - Will I See You Again?

Station Break

8 - Shocking Blue - Never Marry A Railroad Man
9 - Paul Cherry - Like Yesterday
10 - Parcels - Overnight
11 - Khruangbin - Cómo Me Quieres
12 - Skinshape - Flight of the Erhu
13 - The Sound Defects - Angels
14 - Thievery Corporation - Resolution

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You heard evening birds,
A pandemonium of whispers.
Early mornings, a sad old man
Sleeping under it, dreaming hot May.
Under the big rain tree
Lived a night forest.
The strange woman uttered deep profanities.
Do you know where fruits come from?
Come here, I will make you breathe.
The moon just did the stars.
Always overdressed, her rags
A mountain even in summer.
Another rag added, the next time you saw her.
Leaves above, leaves under her feet.
When the big tree fell, everyone came.
Children from long ago, after school
Saw ants crawl out, birds hatching, a snake slithering
Into the watery dark where every tree became a story.

  • Amlanjyoti Goswami
    “A Rain Tree Falls in Dighalipukhuri”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/13/2135909/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-Where-Every-Tree-Became-a-Story

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 6 November 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"I Create a Story in My Mind of How You Must've Smiled"

1 - Paradise Blossom - Beach Boy
2 - Tom Waits - Hope I Don't Fall in Love With You
3 - The Wynntown Marshals - The Missing Me
4 - Gordon Lightfoot - Song for a Winter's Night
5 - Loreena McKennitt - The Mystic's Dream
6 - Chris Joss - Tune Down

Station Break

7 - Hazy - Manifest
8 - Alfa Mist - Breathe
9 - Ólafur Arnalds - Not Alone
10 - Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight
11 - Hans Zimmer - Time

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

these leaves are not from in here
they are nothing like the towering pine
that prickles crevices into my sky with its
decaying and sullen branches
these leaves are robust & hearty still
sneaking their way onto a stage
of concrete like renegade
prima donnas at burlesque
they dance and flicker
bare glimpses of saffron & sepia
blow kisses from lips a tint of rouge
i am certain
no man can recreate
these leaves must be
the ones you saw each day
as you sat close by painting
they huddled together didn’t they
and danced harmoniously
as they fanned rainbows into your sky
i create a story in my mind of how
you must’ve smiled and pressed
those rose-kissed cheeks toward your eyes
but your leaves are changing in here
as all the fallen do
i watch as one little ballerina races by
unable to keep pace
she collides into a steel wall
half her body in my company
half her body reaching for you
her slippers tear in the struggle
i whisper to her you’re still beautiful
and tell her you should go
she twirls her head blushing
then exposes her drying heart toward me
she waits for me to come for her
she waits for us
to save each other

  • Connie Leung
    “Autumn in Prison”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/6/2134127/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-I-Create-a-Story-in-My-Mind-of-How-You-Must-ve-Smiled

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 30 October 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"The Anxiety the Sky Reads Today”

1 - Shigeru Umebayashi - Yumeji's Theme
2 - Alexey Kosenko - Melancholy
3 - Stina Nordenstam - Crime
4 - Leviticus - Burial
5 - Stefano Torossi - Walking In The Dark

Station Break

6 - Sandro Brugnolini - Alipid
7 - Club des Belugas - La Mer
8 - Dhafer Youssef - Wind & Shadows
9 - Groove Armada - At the River
10 - Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Futile, like asking direct sun to be kind to the new of my daughters’
shoulders, the napes of their necks. A nearby woman photographing
her own precious things, their small white feet kicking up the surf.
The man I make love with and my sun-lit girls skitter on the shore,
so much water to be gathered, collected in buckets.
Before the worst hurricane Charleston has ever seen,
my father showed us a kindness. It was to bring us
supplies, then promptly leave before the storm.
If his children were going to die, it wouldn’t be
without flashlights. He was closer than a stranger.
As beautiful as the ocean day is in the morning,
I remind Marcus that morning sun is the worst.
The anxiety the sky reads today is Racially motivated
incident. This sense of foreboding I sit with in predominately
white spaces. How my strained heart pushes past my sternum
to wrap the bright bodies of my loved ones, pull them in.
The stupidest people in the world are police, my granddaddy said.
(In the 70s, my uncle went a few years impersonating
an officer, pulling folks over to write tickets and such.)
The man who chose to father me always told me the world was mine.
Did a crab snap you? Vivienne asks.
Eden jumps over the waves how I did when I was a girl.
I will not tell my daughters to move out of the way
of the walkers on the beach this morning.
I will not hurry to adjust their positions for anyone.
Besides, I was born with a job to record.
Who does the sea belong to—
the man with the beach house on the beach?
Where is the plane and why didn’t it deliver the message?
Is the ocean cold? I ask Marcus.
Yeah, he says.

  • Kwoya Fagin Maples
    “The Beach is Host to Small Things”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/30/2132416/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-The-Anxiety-the-Sky-Reads-Today

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 23 October 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"That Single Light Shining at the Center of All Things”

1 - Nick Drake - Cello Song
2 - Balmorhea - Remembrance
3 - Daniel Lanois - Fire
4 - Crooked Still - Ecstasy
5 - Gordon Lightfoot - Seven Island Suite
6 - Gustavo Santaolalla - The Path: A New Beginning

Station Break

7 - Tim Buckley - Morning Glory
8 - Kate Wolf - You're Not Standing Like You Used To
9 - Gregory Alan Isakov - This Empty Northern Hemisphere
10 - Jordan Critz - Starry Night
11 - Ray LaMontagne - Such A Simple Thing
12 - Lord Huron - The Night We Met
13 - Phoebe Bridgers - Scott Street

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that the sun has set and the rain has abated,
And every porch light
in the neighborhood is lit,
Maybe we can invent something; I'd like a new
Way of experiencing the world, a way of taking
Into myself the single light shining at the center
Of all things without losing the dense, eccentric
Planets orbiting around it.
What you'd like is a more
Attentive lover, I suppose—· Too bad that slow,
Wet scorch of orange blossoms floating towards
The storm drain is not a vein of stars . . . we could
Make a wish on one of them; not that we would
Wish for anything but the impossible.

  • Jay Hopler
    “Out of These Wounds, The Moon Will Rise”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/23/2130778/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-That-Single-Light-Shining-at-the-Center-of-All-Things

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 16 October 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Observe the Ocean's Purple Evening”
1 - Dum Dum Girls - Bedroom Eyes
2 - Pacha Massive - Don't Let Go
3 - Terno Rei - Solidão de Volta
4 - Duda Beat - Bixinho
5 - La Buena Vida - Trigo Limpio
6 - Abdullah Chhadeh & Syriana - Ana Araby
7 - GoJam Group - Periplanisi

Station Break

8 - Olasonic - Neda
9 - Japancakes - Soft N EZ
10 - Baiana System - Miçanga
11 - Tribalistas - Carnavália
12 - Jorge Ben - Ôba Lá Vem Ela
13 - Thievery Corporation - All That We Perceive

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pink seafoam leaves odd gifts for me to find:
a puffed-up man-o-war, a mermaid’s purse,
empty lady slippers, Sargasso weed,
as if these things could fill my human needs.
I push my toes beneath the cold, damp sand,
observe the ocean’s purple evening.
A loggerhead rides up and heaves her bulk
to dig a hole, deposit future in the dark.
Until she’s done and slips back out to sea
I sit and match her labored breath to mine.
This sea: a Chevy engine revving high
reminding me how everything’s design.

  • Lupita Eyde-Tucker
    “Beachcomber Nocturne”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 9 October 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Chords to a Popular Ballad Tapped Out in Code”

1 - Carl Sagan - Carry Us to The Stars
2 - French Rockets - 1 x 1
3 - Ulrich Schnauss - Stars
4 - Philip Glass - Kyoko’s House
5 - Kraftwerk - Radio Activity

Station Break

6 - Vangelis - Création du Monde
7 - Tangerine Dream - Stratos Fear
8 - Stereolab - Parsec
9 - Velvet Dreamer - Clouds Drifting By

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pre-revolutionary New Wave nuns
in La Religieuse’s worse first convent, locked up
for everything, slip little scribbled paper slips
into a small wooden box at mass, one by one
in a soft stone room
where the cinematography’s saturation
and a creamy blue nimbus
emanating from every surface
make the movie theater’s patrons’ faces
look like crickets twitching in a nebula,
an orchestra drowning in its pit. “That looks fun,”
whispered one to the left of me,
“do you think they’re voting?” You know
some artful gravity beyond the screen
might just be. Anna Karina rats on them
and gets out in the end. But it’s not the end.
If you think this damp little room you live in
is all that’s holding you
you’re right. Every second is a door
bolted shut. You can hear your music
behind a few, but only one or two will open.
Anna’s second convent seems
better at first—carnations
who knew she’d missed them all winter, chords
to a popular ballad tapped out in code
and sung in a strained, louche unison
replacing those lonesome hymns
in praise of nothing but reward—
but then the final shot crosses
all of it out. The mess they leave her in
feels pretty uncalled for, to say the least.
There’s no third convent,
no exit theme, and when the lights go up
you’re not as glad to have witnessed it
as to see the one who was talking trash,
a sentence drumming in your throat.

  • Daniel Poppick
    “Lugubrious Stars of the Tomb”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/9/2127898/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-Chords-to-a-Popular-Ballad-Tapped-Out-in-Code

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 2 October 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Here in the World Above Water”

1 - Starflyer 59 - Red Tide
2 - The Rosebuds - Woods
3 - Woods - Rain On
4 - Robbie Robertson - The Sound is Fading
5 - Tosca - Rosa
6 - Kroke - The Sounds of a Vanishing World
7 - Os Mutantes - Desculpe Babe

Station Break

8 - Vangelis - Sirens Whispering
9 - Sacred Earth - Divine Mother
10 - Ah Nee Mah - Firefall
12 - Tinariwen - Ere Tasfata Adounia

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We talk, you and I, of mindfulness, here in the world above
water, but what’s below is watchfulness,
pure and simple: creatures trying not to be eaten,
creatures relentlessly prowling or simply waiting for meals to
cruise on by. Except maybe parrotfish.
Ever industrious, ever in motion, it’s hard to find one not
chomping on Yucatán limestone reefs. What we see as
dead, bleached coral or crusted limestone shelves, for them
is re-embodied Fish Delight. Which means I find them by
eavesdropping. Ah, those castanet choruses clicking, clacking,
a coven of promises leading me on until there:
below my mask and snorkel, a dozen or more upside-down
Princesses sway as one, in their pink and blue checkerboard
gowns, their long, long dorsal crowns
cobalt-striped, and turquoise, and fuchsia—useless—
no Prince to be found, not even in fish identification books,
just me and my ardor. Bewitched, each day I hang, transfixed,
above them in a slightly different
place in that once-pristine, once-undiscovered Yal-Ku lagoon,
its cradling mix of salt and fresh water
letting me hold myself, and time, and the rest of the world
stock still. Sometimes I’m even luckier: out of the deepest
shadows (as out of my book) ventures
the shy Midnight Parrot, a constellation of neon blue
mosaic scrawled on its head, its body—two feet long—
as dark as blue can get and still
not be black, its parrot beak (that family
trait) munching rocks and shitting sand. Puffs of it,
great big clouds of it, murking the water until
finally settling down
(it’s how, some scientists
say, sandy floors of tropical reefs are born).
But had I dared the slightest move, my Midnight
would have, just like that, become Dawn.
And so it could have been, as well, with that one
tremendous fish, secretive, off at the edge, among
the maze of boulders piled on boulders, broken sandstone
columns, deep channels between them, there—
in a shaft of sun, the end of all my seeking
and what I hadn’t known I’d sought—three feet long, at least
and all alone, clown-sized lips and eyelids the brightest possible aqua
blue in an orange-gold face,
the way a child might rub its mother’s most dramatic
eye shadow onto the most unlikely places:
forehead, cheeks, even the outermost edges of every single
emerald-green fin, even the edge of the deep red tail, its tips
turned up at the corners—that tremendous fish was eating
nothing, that fish wasn’t moving at all, except it turned its head
and one tremendous eye caught mine. And held it. Taut.
Oh, I almost stopped
breathing. And the fish stopped
everything, too, except for slowly pulsing gills—opening,
closing, opening, closing—in sync with my own
pounding heart. Was I
the watcher or the watched? How long did we stay
like that, hooked to one another, held in water’s palm,
as through my every cell, over and over, rang Rainbow, unstoppable
Rainbow, until I had no beginning, I had no end,
Rainbow I was and happily would
be still, had not a wayward cloud blundered in.

  • Ingrid Wendt
    “Pot of Gold”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/2/2126573/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-Here-in-the-World-Above-Water

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 25 September 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Polyphonic from the Dark of the Chitlin”

1 - Pharoah Sanders - Thembi
2 - TK Blue - Frozen Mist (from Wise Eyes of the Elders)
3 - Bobbi Humphrey - New York Times (from the 7th Annual Watts Festival 1972)
4 - Joseph Smith - Winelight

Station Break

5 - Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions
6 - Ramsey Lewis - Sun Goddess
7 - Donald Byrd - Lansana's Priestess
8 - Grover Washington, Jr - A Secret Place

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and then there are the one-hit zombies
cursed to an eternity of Monday nights
who runs our music does not make it
controls manufacture and marketing of rhythm
schemes on and fixes the charts. it’s polyphonic
from the dark of the chitlin to solid gold dawn
doublecrossed over
a love come down
after the plunge
sloshing around in limbo
that too sweet gospel splash

  • Wanda Coleman
    “Ode for Donny Hathaway”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/25/2125266/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-Polyphonic-from-the-Dark-of-the-Chitlin

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 18 September 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Until Recently The Universe Was Expanding”

1 - Meiko Kaji - Flower of Carnage
2 - Air - Cherry Blossom Girl
3 - Morcheeba - Blood Like Lemonade
4 - Ennio Morricone - The Trio
5 - Zamfir - The Lonely Shepherd
6 - Zero 7 - Red Dust

Station Break

7 - Ryan Stewart - This Dream
8 - Naxatras - I Am the Beyonder
9 - Boards of Canada - Aquarius
10 - Neroche - Day In Day Out
11 - Night Tapes - Forever

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Until recently the universe was expanding
with new suns, nebulas, constellations,
vibrating waves, the breath of galaxies.
Now it’s contracting to satellite
images depicting Earth:
not even the whole planet, just one country,
not even each region, just one city,
a single street, gray pavement. On it are strewn
“dark objects of similar size
to human bodies,” writes the New York Times.
Not buried for weeks,
their grave the satellite’s synthetic eye
and the black holes of our pupils,
surrounded by life.

  • Krystyna Dąbrowska
    “Cosmos”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/18/2123696/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-Until-Recently-The-Universe-Was-Expanding

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 11 September 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"At the Most Unexpected Time of Pain and Impermanence”

1 - Gregory Alan Isakov - San Luis
2 - The Crane Wives - The Garden
3 - Mandolin Orange - Golden Embers
4 - Big Thief - Pretty Things
5 - Patrick Watson - Lighthouse
6 - The Oh Hellos - I Have Made Mistakes
7- Black Fire Pistol - Level

Station Break

8 - Skinshape - Old Days
9 - Sébastien Tellier - Look
10 - Lord Huron - Ends of the Earth
11 - Tomberlin - Wasted
12 - The Japanese House - Something Has to Change
13 - Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Hunnybee
14 - Sault - Wildfires

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How many times
Can a Heart be broken
How many times
Can a resolve be tested

Is this the meaning
Of Life?

To be reminded
At the most unexpected
Time of
Pain and impermanence

How many times?

I hear the voices
Of those whose
Memories of
Lost innocence

Are etched with the
Precision of a Calendar
On the Stone of History:

Jack London remembered
The Boxer Rebellion
Jack Reed recalled more
Than Ten Days

Hemingway remembered
A hospital in Italy
Salinger talked of
Dresden’s fiery face

Our Grandparents
Think of the Seventh
Of December

While others recall

A day in Dallas
A balcony in Memphis
A hotel in LA

How many more times
How many more generations

Will be born into this
Impending loss?

How many more
Incidents of horror
Before the last
Vestige of innocence
Is carried away?

These questions
May seem on the surface
To be a plea

But
How many more times

How many more images
Of a woman

Her dress blown
In a fall among

Glass
Concrete
Steel
Fire?

(New York, New York 2002)

  • Justice Putnam
    ”The Dates of Demarcation”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/11/2122239/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-At-the-Most-Unexpected-Time-of-Pain-and-Impermanence

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 4 September 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"I Lived Like a Landscape”

1 - The Replacements - Unsatisfied
2 - Echo & The Bunnymen - Evergreen
3 - The Psychedelic Furs - The Ghost In You
4 - Style Council - The Lodgers
5 - Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
6 - Siouxsie & the Banshees - Christine
7 - The Pretenders - Kid
8 - The Stranglers - No More Heroes

Station Break

9 - U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name
10 - The B-52's - Planet Claire
11 - The English Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom
12 - The Specials - Ghost Town
13 - The Clash - Police On My Back
14 - Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
15 - Dire Straits - Wild West End

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The writer looks back, year
by year, star after star, ever
and anon. "I came out singing,
sailing, and gliding on beauty."
The writer remembers
the river, hills, and flowers.
"I lived like a landscape with
a large glacier in its midst."
Let us imagine him in stone,
devoted to a life of posterity
and the idea of the future,
Watching the passing waves
of humanity, outlasting the world.
"I believe in objects more
than subjects. Art is the failure
of the subject. Objects are true."
His mind becomes itself a subject,
subordinate to a twisted sense
of historical proportion, clinging
to sublimity and preservation.
"I think of my life as a skeleton
and modern times as a funeral.
I belong to the future, like a green
sea, like the sun, like the sky."

  • Joshua Edwards
    “The Lamp of Memory”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/4/2120815/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-I-Lived-Like-a-Landscape

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 21 Aug 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"A Jetty of Riprap Pointing to My Faults"

1 - Mandolin Orange - Old Ties And Companions
2 - Gangstagrass - You Can Never Go Home Again
3 - Tin Hat Trio - The Longest Night
4 - Abigail Washburn - Sometimes
5- Gillian Welch - One More Dollar
6 - Be Good Tanyas - Lonesome Blues
7 - Kate Corbett - How Did I Get Here
8 - Sybil Baier - I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind

Station Break

9 - Roland Faunte - Hand Over Hand
10 - Djavan - Flor do Medo
11 - Bebel Gilberto - Samba da Bencoa
12 - Les Hommes - Intraspettro
13 - Thievery Corporation - All That We Perceive

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you weren’t here, I’d fear the surge
of surf. I’d watch the moon wax and wane,
feel the constant pulling of tides, the urge
to drown myself in pity and booze, to explain
my life as “Cape Disappointment” with hard luck
spinning and winning souls like mine, a jetty
of riprap pointing to my faults, the muck
of my past too deep to dredge. But you say
you see in me a strength that strengthens you,
a heart that yearns for your heart and finds it,
upsetting even the odds we thought we knew,
renewing old hopes, confounding old conflicts.
All I know is we’re here, my love, our bed warm,
your body a bulwark to ride out the storm.

  • Eleanor Channell
    “Rivermouth”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/21/2117998/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-A-Jetty-of-Riprap-Pointing-to-My-Faults

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 14 Aug 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"I’m Sorry To Say That’s How Poems Are Made"

1 - Nouvelle Vague - Making Plans for Nigel
2 - Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks - I Scare Myself
3 - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - I’m Glad
4 - Steve Cipriani - Soft Dream
5 - Hiroshi Suzuki - Romance
6 - AKmusique - Ocean Drive 707

Station Break

7 -Shigeo Sekito - The Word II
8 - Hiroshima - One Wish
9 - Claude Larson - Memory Image
10 - Geoff Bastow - Tomorrow’s Communications
11 - Edvard Grieg & The Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra - Solveig’s Song
12 - Vangelis - Rachel’s Song at Sunset

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm often sorry about wanting to catch you when you're down
but other days I fake it. My work
requires some level of regret I can't muster consistently.
It rains. I open my heart enough to let a moth fly in,
then trap it. I'm sorry to say that's how poems are made. One eye
on each wing, this whole-body blinking.
All of this makes sense as long as you keep yourself from thinking about it.
Not an elephant. Not an oil crisis.
Until yesterday, several vials of smallpox remained
unaccounted for, resting benevolent in a cardboard box
in an unused storage area of a research center in Bethesda.
Concerning the accounted-for vials, those too
have yet to be destroyed by the United States
or Russia.
It's easy to dream myself in a cardboard box. I'm
very good at holding my breath.
But how can you not harbor doubts? Economist
Morris Adelman died last month, his famous line—We will never run out
of oil. Or smallpox, as it happens.
As it happens, I go into the sunroom to water the jade, the child
of my grandmother's plant which was cut
from her nurse's plant which was cut from her
ex-husband's plant. I'm getting to the part where
I run out of things to say about extinction. Cut a branch
and bury it. Sometimes
I'm sorry these plants take such little care, such
little work required of me.

  • Katie Willingham
    “Internal Reasons and the Obscurity of Blame”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/14/2116590/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-I-m-Sorry-To-Say-That-s-How-Poems-Are-Made

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 7 Aug 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"She Can’t Remember Autumn"

1 - Dengue Fever -- Uku
2 - Badmarsh & Shri - Signs
3 - Quantic - The 5th Exotic
4 - Sound Tribe Sector 9 - Tokyo
5 - Yo La Tengo - I Heard You Looking

Station Break

6 - Loop Guru - Plane Shift
7 - Lucky Dragons - Open Melody
8 - DJ Cam - California Dreamin’
9 - Sigur Rós - Flugufrelsarinn
10 - Lemongrass - Le Coup

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you believe in snow, you have to believe
in water as it's meant to be, loosed
from clouds arranged like asphodel. Because that's
what it's like to come back: a slow
surfacing, memory spiraling away. You can sleep
so long, whole seasons are forgotten
like a hospital-room plaster, spidered
with cracks in Portugal shapes. You can love
sleep like water, love your heavy limbs
pushing river and ocean aside.
After Maggie woke, the doctors had her stringing
bracelets of semiprecious beads, and she
couldn't stop counting the kinds of blue.
Here, summer, in the high shade of a ginko,
she pulls up a handful of stones on silk
and we drink grapefruit seltzer, listening
to the tinny chime of bubbles
rising to the air. She can't remember
autumn, so we tell her someday this tree will drop
its fan-shaped leaves all at once,
golden in the October crush
of every plant's frantic strip show. Later
we'll see mountains through the scrim of empty
branches, and if we can look straight up
into the atmosphere, see the same plain old sky
revolving. When we ask Maggie what color it is
she always says iolite, picturing beads
like raindrops, shining azure on the table.
She forgets that sometimes things don't stay
where you leave them, that the sky fades
to white even before snow begins
to fall. It's hard, but we have to tell her
even sapphires don't glow blue
without some kind of help.

  • Janet McNally
    ”Maggie Says There's No Such Thing as Winter”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/7/2115096/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-She-Can-t-Remember-Autumn

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 31 July 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"The Life She Was Leaving"

1 - Svrcina - Meet Me on the Battlefield
2 - Thee Lakesiders - Parachute
3 - Nuages - Closer
4 - Balthazar - Fever
5 - Blue Boy - Remember Me

Station Break

6 - Julee Cruise - The Nightingale
7 - Moderator - Words Remain
8 - Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard - Sorrow
9 - Eivør - Trøllabundin
10 - Khruangbin - Friday Morning
11 - Skinshape - Don't Call My Name

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today I wept with the kids as we drove
the dirt roads, grass greener than ever. I felt it
closed. The meadows smothered dozing cows in clover
and violet. A certain valence. It came so close
to something nameless. I needed the omnivorous
metaphor, a golden omen. I needed to touch
its extreme beak with my mind, to know
it existed. That afternoon decades ago
when my mom went to Wal-Mart, the red poppies
ran across her skirt, her eyes bluer than melting glaciers.
She emerged with a bag, no explanation. And I drove
us back to the house my dad won by divorcing.
I don’t remember how night descended, whether feathered
or furred, no poem-bird could hold it. Mom went inside
first. I stood near the pine and lied to love, lied to its face. I felt it
closed. And there was Mom, in the window,
unwrapping her purchase. She set a chair near the socket,
plugged in her pen. I watched her blaze the pine-panel walls
with a wood-burner. It wound round the rim of the room
and grew rounder, the part I didn’t see coming.
You will never forget me, Doru. No one else left
their homeland for you. Her hands shook, pressing
words into the flesh of our home. The life she was
leaving. Her notes, that winding charred necklace,
encircling us. The bird was not black.
It was the color of fire absent smoke.
I can’t forget what it spoke.

  • Alina Stefanescu
    “Poem for the Black Bird”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/31/2113769/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-The-Life-She-Was-Leaving

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 24 July 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Maybe it’s Enough to Bask in the Shadows"

1- Battant - Radio Rod
2 - Pintandwefall - Jail
3 - TV Off - Car is on Fire
4 - Röyksopp - What Else Is There?
5 - Rotersand - Truth Is Fanatic
6 - Chromatics - Shadow
7 - Salomé Leclerc - Tourne Encore

Station Break

8 - Kate Wolf - These Times We're Living In
9 - Robbie Basho - Blue Crystal Fire
10 - Frazey Ford - Lost Together
11 - Yellow House - Aint Gonna Call
12 - Karen O - Hello Tomorrow
13 - Beth Orton - She Cries Your Name
14 - Nouvelle Vague - In A Manner Of Speaking

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why bother to lift the cloud's galvanic veil?
Why remove the halo contact lenses
from my solid white eyes?
If so many crows like to watch the blurred
screen of my face, how can I be expected
to understand the truth of the obstinate
fire hydrant? The meaning of the space
between the prongs of the unplugged iron?
Maybe it's enough to bask in the shadows
of the thighs of the monumental icon,
to rescue dented souls with the tongs
of a sparkling imagination, to stretch out
on the floor of our carpeted basement,
counting the heads of our ceramic turtle collection
until the meditative gesture
becomes you, and you it.
So don't ask me to sleep on the other side
of the bottled-water bed.
Don't tell me to flick on the light and stop
drinking cocoa from the Van Gogh
museum's ear-shaped mug.
Yes, there may be a river of tomato-juice blood
surrounding our neoclassical-pueblo duplex condo,
but that doesn't mean the blinds should be open,
and everything allowed in.

  • Joanna Fuhrman
    “The World is Burning, but Everyone Needs Sleep”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/.../-The-Justice-Dept-on...

The Netroots Radio Live Player

https://www.netrootsradio.com/

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 17 July 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"A Tongue Without a Mouth Sings the Loudest, She Says"

1 - Galatée - Le Juin La Sirène
2 - Clan of Xymox - Something's Wrong
3 - Project Pitchfork - Rain
4 - Fleet Foxes - Mykonos
5 - Michelle Gurevich - Fatalist Love
6 - Damien Jurado - Cloudy Shoes

Station Break

7 - Arlindo Cruz - Meu Lugar
8 - Maria Rita - Reza
9 - Baiana System - Água
10 - Jorge Ben Jor - Magnólia
11 - Los Bitchos - Pista
12 - Messer Chups - Magneto
13 - Os Mutantes - Ando Meio Desligado

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a churile swims the length of
the demerara river in my dreams.
she tows her dead
child behind her, catches me
in a net of black hair.
do you want to know how to
buss a gyaff, she asks.
ditch the ipa chart. mimic
your grandmother’s
canal no. 1 lips. howl
the choo-ryle’s grief into a
cornelia ida cane field sitting
at the bottom
of your uncle’s coors light can.
the churile’s grief is the undertow of
every overseas gyaff. in her hands
the saltwater-pickled tongue of my
great-great-great grandmother sings.
a tongue without a mouth
sings the loudest, she says.
do you want to know how to
buss a gyaff?
listen for the
wagwans the sita-rams
the how yuh dos
the langtime me nah see yous
listen for
what the story says and
wield your grandfather’s cutlass.
reply with
di’ ’tory ’tweet.
(even if it’s not.) chop up
the queen’s english, prune
the consonants, make room
for the vowels to stretch their backs.
somewhere at the bottom of the demerara river
a colonial officer is hoarding the
Ss that somersault off my tongue,
smooth like the tamarind seeds my mother
swallows when she is five. somewhere
at the bottom of the demerara river
is the tamarind tree i wish
climbed up my esophagus
and out of my yankee mouth
that time i swallowed
a handful of tamarind seeds. i was desperate
to cough up
a shipwreck a ship manifest
a house on stilts
a bottomless bottomhouse
a saltwater-pickled tongue—
anything to soak up the currents of
a seasickness over a hundred years young
that drenches
my feet

-- Nadia Misir
"manual for the tongue whose first language is a churile of my second"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Netroots Radio Live Player:
https://www.netrootsradio.com/

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/17/2110944/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-A-Tongue-Without-a-Mouth-Sings-the-Loudest-She-Says

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 10 July 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Time of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Other Temples Overrun by Vegetation"

1 - John Prine - That’s How Every Empire Falls
2 - Jim White - Static on the Radio
3 - Chris Joss - Tune Down
4 - The Radio Dept - You Fear The Wrong Thing Baby
5 - A Beacon School - It's Late

Station Break

6 - Aphex Twin - Avril 14th
7 - Bedroom - In My Head
8 - Nato & Sahale - Jelassi
9 - Dave Dunhill - Sun Sun Damba
10 - Mild High Club - Windowpane
11 - Skinshape - Oracolo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You walk on a path lined with palm fronds,
and mosquitoes swarm, but no, not yet—
once, before you stepped into a rainforest,
a cloud of mosquitoes rose in the clearing;
when the cloud dissipated, you headed
to a temple where you climbed the steps,
and, reaching the pinnacle, surveying
a canopy of ceiba trees, saw other temples
overrun by vegetation. That night, noises
in the rainforest were raspings on guiros—
you saw mosquitoes swarm a bloated
body floating on a lake; and, in the morning,
when you walked out of that rainforest,
bitten alive, you walked out of a past life.
In the coos of this morning’s white-winged dove,
sounds of howler monkeys reach
the shore of this day: you step onto an island,
walk on a path lined with palm fronds.

  • Arthur Sze
    “The Shore of This Day”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/10/2108237/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-Other-Temples-Overrun-by-Vegetation

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 3 June 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Time of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"In the High Window of a Burning Castle"

1 - Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July
2 - Penguin Café - Cantorum
3 - Can - Mother Sky
4 - Yellow House - Love in the Time of Socialism

Station Break

5 - Lila Rose - Talking in Your Sleep
6 - Alexey Kosenko - Melancholy
7 - Shigeru Umebayashi - Yumeji's Theme
8 - Ólafur Arnalds - Gleypa Okkur
9 - Billie Marten - She Dances

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake and feel the city trembling.
Yes, there is something unsettled in the air
And the earth is uncertain.
And so it was for the tenor Caruso.
He couldn’t sleep—you know how the ovation
Rings in your ears, and you re-sing your part.
And then the ceiling trembled
And the floor moved. He ran into the street.
Never had Naples given him such a reception!
The air was darker than Vesuvius.
“O mamma mia,”
He cried, “I’ve lost my voice!”
At that moment the hideous voice of Culture,
Hysterical woman, thrashing her arms and legs,
Shrieked from the ruins.
At that moment everyone became a performer.
Otello and Don Giovanni
And Figaro strode on the midmost stage.
In the high window of a burning castle
Lucia raved. Black horses
Plunged through fire, dragging the wild bells.
The curtains were wrapped in smoke. Tin swords
Were melting; masks and ruffs
Burned—and the costumes of the peasants’ chorus.
Night fell. The white moon rose
And sank in the Pacific. The tremors
Passed under the waves. And Death rested.
2
Now, as we stand idle,
Watching the silent, bowler-hatted man,
The engineer, who writes in the smoking field;
Now as he hands the paper to a boy,
Who takes it and runs to a group of waiting men,
And they disperse and move toward their wagons,
Mules bray and the wagons move—
Wait! Before you start
(Already the wheels are rattling on the stones)
Say, did your fathers cross the dry Sierras
To build another London?
Do Americans always have to be second-rate?
Wait! For there are spirits
In the earth itself, or the air, or sea.
Where are the aboriginal American devils?
Cloud shadows, pine shadows
Falling across the bright Pacific bay ...
(Already they have nailed rough boards together)
Wait only for the wind
That rustles in the eucalyptus tree.
Wait only for the light
That trembles on the petals of a rose.
(The mortar sets—banks are the first to stand)
Wait for a rose, and you may wait forever.
The silent man mops his head and drinks
Cold lemonade. “San Francisco
Is a city second only to Paris.”
3
Every night, at the end of America
We taste our wine, looking at the Pacific.
How sad it is, the end of America!
While we were waiting for the land
They’d finished it—with gas drums
On the hilltops, cheap housing in the valleys
Where lives are mean and wretched.
But the banks thrive and the realtors
Rejoice—they have their America.
Still, there is something unsettled in the air.
Out there on the Pacific
There’s no America but the Marines.
Whitman was wrong about the People,
But right about himself. The land is within.
At the end of the open road we come to ourselves.
Though mad Columbus follows the sun
Into the sea, we cannot follow.
We must remain, to serve the returning sun,
And to set tables for death.
For we are the colonists of Death—
Not, as some think, of the English.
And we are preparing thrones for him to sit,
Poems to read, and beds
In which it may please him to rest.
This is the land
The pioneers looked for, shading their eyes
Against the sun—a murmur of serious life.

  • Louis Simpson
    “Lines Written Near San Francisco”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/3/2108240/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-In-the-High-Window-of-a-Burning-Castle

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 26 June 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Time of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"They've Found a Woman's Bones Whittled by Time"

1 - Saint Motel - A Good Song Never Dies
2 - Thee Sacred Souls - Weak for Your Love
3 - Dope Lemon - Hey Little Girl
4 - Khruangbin - Lady and Man
5 - King Crimson - Starless

Station Break

6 - Bisera Veletanlić - Sunny
7 - Leo Martin - Ima Vremena
8 - MorMor - Heaven's Only Wishful
9 - Jethro Tull - My God
10 - Indila - Dernière Danse
11 - Lana Del Rey - Get Free

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Out of a pit, they've found a woman's bones— whittled by time,
bearded with dust, clutching the ambered remains of a cow.
Was she matriarch, widow, wife? Did she die struck by illness or blight?
Archeologists say her wealth and status are proven by this cow.
Some days, I quip to friends and family: my name might as well be
Bob (short for Beast of Burden). But life's yoke is heavier than a cow.
What would I want to take with me? In Chinese burials,
the dead are ferried to the afterlife: not on cows
but in paper limousines inked with symbols for wealth: coins, bills, sweets;
cigars, what one liked here enough to take to there; but not a cow—
In the winding Cordilleras I call home, the dead are neatly tucked among
the hills, with jars of betel nut and agate beads— never with a cow.
A friend reminds me: in Hindu myth, should the population
be in danger, they'll save the women, children, and their cows.
The cow that in this life was cow, does it remain the same? Does it dream
of feathered grass in the fields, of gnats, the low symphony of fellow cows
chewing their cud? They poke at beetles the color of jewels—
embellishment on face plates of sleeping mummies. The cow
as sacrifice, as plenty, as months of food and fat and solid warmth.
And the woman: how was she loved, missed, valued more than cow?

  • Luisa A Igloria
    “Ghazal, with Cow Burial”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/6/26/2106624/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-They-ve-Found-a-Woman-s-Bones-Whittled-by-Time

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 08 May 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"As We Fly From the Contagion of the World"

1 - Jorge Ben - Ôba Lá Vem Ela
2 - Alceu Valença - Flor de Tangerina
3 - Virginia Rodrigues - Deus do Fogo e da Justiça
4 - Marpessa Dawn - Manha de Carnaval Eurydice
5 - Os Mutantes - El Justiceiro
6 - Geraldo Vandré - Pra Não Dizer Que Não Falei Das Flores
7 - Luso Baião - Cheira Bem

Station Break

8 - Elis Regina - O Bêbado e a Equilibrista
9 - Paulinho Moska - Admiração
10 - O Grilo - Sambinha
11 - Secos & Molhados - Sangue Latino
12 - Letrux - Noite Estranha Geral Sentiu
13 - Academia da Berlinda - Só De Tú
14 - Phillipi & Rodrigo - Retrogrado
15 - Cicero - Falso Azul

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over gutters and over parking lots,
over rooftops, fountains, cloudbanks and the bay,
beyond the sun, beyond the medium that fills
unoccupied space, beyond the confines of the known
universe, ghost, you slip out of me
with the ease of a swimmer
at one with the waves, furrowing the deep
with a pleasure we can’t articulate
as we fly from the contagion
of the world, bathing in vibrations
shed in silence from the stars, drinking up
the cold clear fire that purifies our emptiness.
Only when you ferry us
here, beyond the tedium and despair
that weigh us down, can we be happy, only when
animate wings beat through the haze of life and lift
up into the luminous do our thoughts like birds
trace patterns in the pearl-gray sky
and hover over life, understanding without effort
the lexicon of flowers, the syntax of all that will die.

Translated from the French, below
____

“Élévation”
Au-dessus des étangs, au-dessus des vallées,
Des montagnes, des bois, des nuages, des mers,
Par delà le soleil, par delà les éthers,
Par delà les confins des sphères étoilées,
Mon esprit, tu te meus avec agilité,
Et, comme un bon nageur qui se pâme dans l'onde,
Tu sillonnes gaiement l’immensité profonde
Avec une indicible et mâle volupté.
Envole-toi bien loin de ces miasmes morbides;
Va te purifier dans l’air supérieur,
Et bois, comme une pure et divine liqueur,
Le feu clair qui remplit les espaces limpides.
Derrière les ennuis et les vastes chagrins
Qui chargent de leur poids l’existence brumeuse,
Heureux celui qui peut d’une aile vigoureuse
S'élancer vers les champs lumineux et sereins;
Celui dont les pensers, comme des alouettes,
Vers les cieux le matin prennent un libre essor,
—Qui plane sur la vie, et comprend sans effort
Le langage des fleurs et des choses muettes!

  • Charles Baudelaire
    “Elevation”
    (translated by Timothy Donnelly)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/5/8/2096799/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-As-We-Fly-From-the-Contagion-of-the-World

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 01 May 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"A Pandemonium of Whispers"

1 - Lady Wray - Guilty
2 - Los Yesterdays - Nobody's Clown
3 - Thee Lakesiders - Can't Fool Me Twice
4 - Friends of Distinction - Going in Circles
5 - Color Us People Band - A Day Without Your Love
6 - Durand Jones & The Indications - Circles
7 - Thee Sacred Souls - Will I See You Again?

Station Break

8 - Shocking Blue - Never Marry A Railroad Man
9 - Paul Cherry - Like Yesterday
10 - Parcels - Overnight
11 - Khruangbin - Cómo Me Quieres
12 - Skinshape - Flight of the Erhu
13 - The Sound Defects - Angels
14 - Thievery Corporation - Resolution

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You heard evening birds,
A pandemonium of whispers.
Early mornings, a sad old man
Sleeping under it, dreaming hot May.
Under the big rain tree
Lived a night forest.
The strange woman uttered deep profanities.
Do you know where fruits come from?
Come here, I will make you breathe.
The moon just did the stars.
Always overdressed, her rags
A mountain even in summer.
Another rag added, the next time you saw her.
Leaves above, leaves under her feet.
When the big tree fell, everyone came.
Children from long ago, after school
Saw ants crawl out, birds hatching, a snake slithering
Into the watery dark where every tree became a story.

  • Amlanjyoti Goswami
    “A Rain Tree Falls in Dighalipukhuri”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/5/1/2095156/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-A-Pandemonium-of-Whispers

The Justice Dept Deep State Archive:

https://archive.org/details/the-justice-department-musique-sans-frontieres-march-21-2021fa-this-feeling-of-trespassing

View Details

I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 17 April 21 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"The Way Her Hands Dismantled Bread"

1 - Orkestra Obsolete - Blue Monday
2 - The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
3 - The Speakeasy Three - When I Get Low I Get High
4 - Post Modern Jukebox - All About That Bass
5 - Röyksopp - What Else Is There?
6 - Chromatics - Shadow
7 - Peter Green - Slabo Day

Station Break

8 - Takuya Kuroda - Everybody Loves The Sunshine
9 - Jacob Gurevitsch - Lovers in Paris
10 - Alain Bashung - Immortels
11 - Sophie Hunger - Le Vent Nous Portera
12 - Nouvelle Vague - In A Manner Of Speaking
13 - The Liminanas and Bertrand Belin - Dimanche

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All the new thinking is about loss.
In this it resembles all the old thinking.
The idea, for example, that each particular erases
the luminous clarity of a general idea. That the clown-
faced woodpecker probing the dead sculpted trunk
of that black birch is, by his presence,
some tragic falling off from a first world
of undivided light. Or the other notion that,
because there is in this world no one thing
to which the bramble of blackberry corresponds,
a word is elegy to what it signifies.
We talked about it late last night and in the voice
of my friend, there was a thin wire of grief, a tone
almost querulous. After a while I understood that,
talking this way, everything dissolves: justice,
pine, hair, woman, you and I. There was a woman
I made love to and I remembered how, holding
her small shoulders in my hands sometimes,
I felt a violent wonder at her presence
like a thirst for salt, for my childhood river
with its island willows, silly music from the pleasure boat,
muddy places where we caught the little orange-silver fish
called pumpkinseed. It hardly had to do with her.
Longing, we say, because desire is full
of endless distances. I must have been the same to her.
But I remember so much, the way her hands dismantled bread,
the thing her father said that hurt her, what
she dreamed. There are moments when the body is as numinous
as words, days that are the good flesh continuing.
Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings,
saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry.

  • Robert Haas
    “Meditation at Lagunitas”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/4/17/2092518/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-The-Way-Her-Hands-Dismantled-Bread

The Justice Dept Deep Archive:

https://archive.org/details/the-justice-department-musique-sans-frontieres-march-21-2021fa-this-feeling-of-trespassing

View Details

I'm Spc Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 10 April 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"In Tune to Breath and Life and Little Falls of Flowers"

1 - Abigail Washburn - Bright Morning Stars
2 - The Cranberries - Never Grow Old
3 - Garbage - Milk
4 - The Cardigans - Erase Rewind
5 - Portishead - Machine Gun
6 - The Pretenders - Kid
7 - Siouxsie & the Banshees - Kiss Them For Me
8 - XRay Spex - Bondage Up Yours

Station Break

9 - Air - Cherry Blossom Girl
10 - Morcheeba - Blood Like Lemonade
11 - Ennio Morricone - The Trio
12 - Zamfir - The Lonely Shepherd
13 - Zero 7 - Red Dust
14 - Ryan Stewart - This Dream

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Promising myself I would not do this again
Is what kept me going
A friend told me to
And I listened
Taking a thing to the end of its life
Is what I was made to do
I think I am not attuned
To the things that breathe
Well that’s not true
I am in tune to breath and life
And little falls of flowers
When the moon was high
I went out to the stream
And brought in the water
For my folks, my kin, my brethren
I brought in the greenish milk
To feed the ones who were already dying
Oh did they go
Oh I do not know

  • Dorothea Lasky
    “The End”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/4/10/2091237/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-In-Tune-to-Breath-and-Life-and-Little-Fall-of-Flowers

The Justice Department Deep Archive:

https://archive.org/details/the-justice-department-musique-sans-frontieres-march-21-2021fa-this-feeling-of-trespassing

View Details

I'm Spc Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 3 April 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Why Are Your Poems So Dark?"

1 - John Prine - That’s How Every Empire Falls
2 - Jim White - Static on the Radio
3 - Chris Joss - Tune Down
4 - The Radio Dept - You Fear The Wrong Thing, Baby
5 - A Beacon School - It's Late

Station Break

6 - Aphex Twin - Avril 14th
7 - Bedroom - In My Head
8 - Nato and Sahale - Jelassi
9 - Dave Dunhill - Sun Sun Damba
10 - Mild High Club - Windowpane
11 - Skinshape - Oracolo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isn't the moon dark too,
most of the time?
And doesn't the white page
seem unfinished
without the dark stain
of alphabets?
When God demanded light,
he didn't banish darkness.
Instead he invented
ebony and crows
and that small mole
on your left cheekbone.
Or did you mean to ask
"Why are you sad so often?"
Ask the moon.
Ask what it has witnessed.

  • Linda Pastan
    “Why Are Your Poems So Dark?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/4/3/2089844/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-Why-Are-Your-Poems-So-Dark

Justice Dept Deep Archive:

https://archive.org/details/the-justice-department-musique-sans-frontieres-march-21-2021fa-this-feeling-of-trespassing

Netroots Radio Live Player:

https://www.netrootsradio.com/

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I'm Spc Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 27 March 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"History Hid its Shame in the Huts of Poor People"

1 - Mount Madonna Choir - Traveler’s Prayer
2 - Nouvelle Vague - Two For The Road
3 - Zero 7 - Monday Night
4 - Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
5 - The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Bluette
6 - Chet Baker - Laura

Station Break

7 - Matthew Herbert - Just Once
8 - New Trolls - A Land To Live And A Land To Die
9 - Joan Baez - Bachianas Brasileiras No 5 Aria
10 - Lemongrass - Bonjour
11 - Bernard Butler & Edwyn Collins - Message For JoJo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She told me, Mama, I want to see the world. I told her, Go. When she returned she said: I saw barefoot women carry water from village to village, saw men limp from border to border, saw children disappear in tunnels that lead to freedom, or so they hoped. I saw families who lost everything, even what they dreamed they’d have one day. Saw history hide its shame in the huts of poor people. And one night, I saw girls count stomachs swelled up like small balloons, while boys played with empty soda cans. They were so hungry. I saw madness. I told her, What a terrible world. She told me, It’s also in that world that I saw the sky speak to the wind, the wind to the sea, the sea to the waves, and the waves to rising souls that sang with voices so clear, everything took flight. Mama, you have to be brave to see. In their phenomenal eyes, I saw a promising world.

  • Nathalie Handal
    “Phenomenal Daughter”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Do you smell that?” she asked, as we drove through Reims, past the headquarters of the National Front, on our way to La Tranche sur Mer.

“I don’t know,” I said flatly, “what is it?”

“It smells like… ” she sniffed in a haughty, Parisian disdain, “it smells like, fascism.”

I knew then I was in love with her. I knew it truly.

– Justice Putnam
“My Little French Honeymoon”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/27/2088487/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-History-Hid-its-Shame-in-the-Huts-of-Poor-People

Justice Dept Deep State Archive:

https://archive.org/details/the-justice-department-musique-sans-frontieres-march-21-2021fa-this-feeling-of-trespassing

View Details

I'm Spc Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 20 March 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"God is My Favorite Dictator"

1 - Chris Thomas King - Why Blues
2 - Deborah Coleman - The River Wild
3 - Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara - Tonio Yima
4 - Amos Lee - All My Friends
5 - Boubacar Traoré - Sa Golo
6 - Otis Taylor - Ten Million Slaves
7 - Geoffrey Oryema - Lubanga

Station Break

8 - Martin Tranka & David Sylvian - Midnight Sun
9 - David Gilmour - Then I Close My Eyes
10 - Mari Boine - I Come From The Other Side
11 - Okay Temiz - Dokuz Seki
12 - Majid Bekkas - Bala Moussa
13 - Gili Garabadi - Double O Seven

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My head, my secret cranial guitar, strung with myths plucked from
Yesterday's straits, it's buried in robes of echoes, my eyes breezeless bags, lacquered to present a glint . . .
My marble lips, entrance to that cave, where visions renounce renunciation,
Eternity has wet sidewalks, angels are busted for drunk flying.
I only want privacy to create an illusion of me blotted out.
His high hopes were placed in his coffin. Long paddles of esteem for his symbol canoe.
If I move to the stars, forward my mail c/o God, Heaven, Lower East Side.
Too late for skindiving and other modern philosophies, put my ego in storage.
The moon is too near my family, and the craters are cold in winter,
Let's move to the sun, hot water, radiant heating, special colors,
Knife-handle convenience, adjacent to God, community melting free.
Eskimos have frozen secrets in their noses and have chopped down the North Pole.
The Last Buffalo will be torpedoed by an atomic submarine, firing hydrogen tiepins.
God is my favorite dictator, even though he refuses to hold free elections.
I worry about the padlock I painted on.
My hair is overrun with crabgrass, parts of my anatomy are still unexplored.
No more harp sessions for me; I am going to hell and hear some good jazz.
Do you hear the good news, Terry and the Pirates are not really real.
If you value the comfort of your fellow worshippers, don't die in church.
Why ruin our eyes with TV, let's design freeways after dinner tonight.
He might have lost some friends, but Jesus could have made a fortune on that water to wine formula.
History is the only diary God keeps, and somebody threw it on the bonfire.
The day of the Big Game at Hiroshima. The moon is a double agent.
This year the animals are holding their first "Be kind to people" week.
The Siamese cats will not participate and will hold their own convention in Egypt. The civilized world fears they may attempt to put Pharoah back in place on the throne.
For God's sake, Hal, jam the radio. Trip them with your guitar.

  • Bob Kaufman
    “Blues for Hal Waters”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/20/2087085/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-God-is-My-Favorite-Dictator

The Justice Dept Deep Archive:

https://archive.org/details/the-justice-department-musique-sans-frontieres-march-21-2021fa-this-feeling-of-trespassing

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

View Details

I'm Spc Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 13 March 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"They'll Say You Are Wrong To Think Of It As War"

1 - Odetta - Sail Away Ladies
2 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Precious Memories
3 - Harry Belafonte & Miriam Makeba - Malaika
4 - Sam & Dave - If Something is Wrong with My Baby
5 - Etta James - Don't Cry Baby
6 - Abbey Lincoln - Nature Boy
7 - Robert Cray - I Was Warned

Station Break

8 - John Lee Hooker - I Cover The Waterfront
9 - War - Sweet Fighting Lady
10 - The Blackbyrds - Dreaming About You
11 - Carla Thomas - When Tomorrow Comes
12 - Durand Jones & The Indications - Too Many Tears
13 - R L Burnside - Shake ‘em On Down Remix

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They'll say you are wrong
to think of it as war
when what you saw was
only flailing, half illumined in the flares.
They'll point to problems with the light,
say you cannot trust
the conjuring habit of the hands and eyes
that appear to belie stories of the day.
Under the swinging bulb as figures come and go
the face close to your face
will say the trains now run again,
factories increase
their output, bodies even glisten
on the beach again.
Then later they'll say yes, admittedly our city's
emptied of your friends and colleagues
and the pumps run dry at times, and yes
that was dark smoke
massed above the mall last Saturday.
But how much more ridiculous
you'd seem, huddled on the ice, elsewhere entirely,
with a new name, a fake accent,
clutching photographs that prove or disprove nothing.
And is there not a thrill in knowing that the footage
some will queue to see
is from a neighborhood like yours?
In the sirens and the flags, the beat of helicopter rotors,
the corner men in camouflage?
And you perhaps among the black cars
racing bumper to bumper at dawn
toward the palace?

  • Len Verwey
    “Elsewhere”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/13/2085698/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-They-ll-Say-You-Are-Wrong-To-Think-Of-It-As-War

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Justice Dept Deep Archive:

https://archive.org/details/the-justice-department-musique-sans-frontieres-march-21-2021fa-this-feeling-of-trespassing

View Details

I'm Spc Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 6 March 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Our Children in the Line of Fire"

1 - Dylan Thomas - The Force That Through The Green Fuse Drives The Flower (read by Richard Burton)
2 - Siouxsie & The Banshees - Cities In Dust
3 - The Cranberries - Zombie
4 - Chumbawamba - Jacob’s Ladder
5 - War - Slippin’ Into Darkness
6 - Kool & The Gang - Summer Madness

Station Break

7 - Buffy Sainte-Marie - God is Alive, Magic is Afoot
8 - The Doors - Strange Days (Thievery Corporation Remix)
9 - Rodrigo y Gabriela - Orion
10 - Agricantus - Tenere
11 - Istanbul Blues Kumpanyasi - On The Road Again

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

our children in the line of fire
scrambling for their lives
while we dreamily polish our guns
reminders of the good old days
when we lived in the wild west
when war was a synonym of greatness
when guns didn’t fire eight hundred rounds a minute
we cherish the smell of red brass and gunpowder
as our children practice hiding in closets
learning to shiver and cry in silence
instead of multiplication facts
we pat our sweet babies’ heads
and send them off to the line of fire

  • Mariana Llanos
    “The Line of Fire”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Justice Dept Deep Archive:

https://archive.org/details/the-justice-department-musique-sans-frontieres-march-21-2021fa-this-feeling-of-trespassing

View Details

I'm Spc Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 27 Feb 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"By The Wet Bond Of Blood"

1 - Fausto Papetti - Femmes
2 - Cake - War Pigs
3 - Creedence Clearwater Revival - Run Through The Jungle
4 - Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
5 - Frazey Ford - Lovers In a Dangerous Time
6 - The Be Good Tanyas - Ship Out on the Sea
7 - Pete Seeger - From Way Up Here

Station Break

8 - Savage Republic - Tabula Rasa
9 - Dany Bright - Suzette
10 - The Decemberists - After The Bombs
11 - Leonard Cohen - The Partisan
12 - Tom Waits - A Soldier’s Things
13 - Cristina Ortiz and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra - Shostakovich Piano Concerto No 2 in F Opus 102: II Andante
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And have we done with War at last?
Well, we've been lucky devils both,
And there's no need of pledge or oath
To bind our lovely friendship fast,
By firmer stuff
Close bound enough.
By wire and wood and stake we're bound,
By Fricourt and by Festubert,
By whipping rain, by the sun's glare,
By all the misery and loud sound,
By a Spring day,
By Picard clay.
Show me the two so closely bound
As we, by the wet bond of blood,
By friendship blossoming from mud,
By Death: we faced him, and we found
Beauty in Death,
In dead men, breath.

  • Robert Graves
    “Two Fusiliers”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/2/27/2082749/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-By-The-Wet-Bond-Of-Blood

The Netroots Radio Live Player:

https://www.netrootsradio.com/

Justice Dept Deep Archive:

https://archive.org/details/the-justice-department-musique-sans-frontieres-march-21-2021fa-this-feeling-of-trespassing

View Details

I'm Spc Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 20 Feb 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"One Night She Went Searching for the Moonlight"

1 - Nicola Cruz - Danza de Vision
2 - Céu - Malemolência e Lenda
3 - Clara Nunes - Canto Das Três Raças
4 - Maria Bethânia - Louvação À Oxum
5 - Djavan - Vesúvio
6 - Roberta Campos - De Janeiro A Janeiro

Station Break

7 - Rubel - Quando Bate Aquela Saudade
8 - Tulipa Ruiz - Só Sei Dançar Com Você
9 - Academia da Berlinda - Dorival
10 - Mariana Froes - Moça
11 - Gabriel o Pensador - Cachimbo da Paz
12 - Tribalistas - Já Sei Namorar

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At night, she’d turn into a beastwoman
leaping across the rooftops
walking hidden in the shadows
her four legs and little pretty girl face
her tail and round breasts moving side to side
a black shape wandering the cornfields
devouring delicious little animals
wooing the stars with her vacant gaze
the beastwoman gets home tired
remembering nothing the next day
she’d wake up with messy hair and wounded feet
with dirty nails and body in heat
one night, she went searching for the moonlight
she went down a ravine to find her destiny
and howl out her sorrows with the coyotes
she realized this life and death made sense
and never again returned to her good girl bed.

  • Rosa Chávez
    “At night, she’d turn into a beastwoman”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/2/20/2081350/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-One-Night-She-Went-Searching-for-the-Moonlight

The Justice Dept Deep Archive:

https://archive.org/details/the-justice-department-musique-sans-frontieres-march-21-2021fa-this-feeling-of-trespassing

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I'm Spec Field Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 13 Feb 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Set On Something Vast"

1 - Little Axe - Long Way to Go
2 - Baby Huey - Hard Times
3 - Little Sister - Stanga
4 - Isaac Hayes - Walk on By
5 - Otis Redding - More Than Words Can Say
6 - Winston Curtis - Be Thankful For What You Got
7 - Nina Simone - See line Women - Joseph Remix

Station Break

8 - Azymuth - Linha Do Horizonte
9 - Duda Beat - Bédi Beat
10 - Vanessa Da Mata - Segue o Som
11 - Gilberto Gil - Toda Menina Baiana
12 - Lila Downs - Mi Corazon me Recuerda
13 - Quantic & Nidia Góngora - Que Me Duele
14 - Jorge Ben Jor - Errare Humanum Est

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The water is one thing, and one thing for miles.
The water is one thing, making this bridge
Built over the water another. Walk it
Early, walk it back when the day goes dim, everyone
Rising just to find a way toward rest again.
We work, start on one side of the day
Like a planet’s only sun, our eyes straight
Until the flame sinks. The flame sinks. Thank God
I’m different. I’ve figured and counted. I’m not crossing
To cross back. I’m set
On something vast. It reaches
Long as the sea. I’m more than a conqueror, bigger
Than bravery. I don’t march. I’m the one who leaps.

  • Jericho Brown
    “Crossing”

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The Justice Department Deep Archive:
https://archive.org/details/the-justice-department-musique-sans-frontieres-march-21-2021fa-this-feeling-of-trespassing

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I'm Special Field Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 6 Feb 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Musical Instruments Sleep in the Dark"

1 - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Midnight Jam
2 - Savage Republic - Andelusia
3 - Yo La Tengo - Today Is The Day
4 - Boozoo Bayou - Nights over Manaus
5 - Peter Green - Slabo Day

Station Break

6 - Röyksopp - What Else Is There
7 - Rubba - Scapement
8 - The Dø - Despair, Hangover & Ecstasy
9 - Sinead O Connor & Massive Attack - What Your Soul Sings
10 - Virginia Rodriguez & Caetano Veloso - Jeito Faceiro
11 - El Búho - Xica Xica

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Musical instruments sleep in the dark
for several hours a day:
the folks we belong to aren't always at play,
so we can't always be at work.
Our silence holds music: an undiscovered bourne,
horizons which have never been viewed,
like undeclared love growing deeper in solitude,
or the crystalline heart of a stone.
My sleep, however, was more like a death:
in the dark of an attic for years;
forgetting my existence, and my glorious career
with the best female swing band on the earth.
I was the great love of my Sweetheart's life.
A man came between us. And soon
I was in the dark collecting dust and out of tune;
they were pronounced man and wife.
Instead of the charts, my gal read Dr. Spock.
We played once a week, once a year . . .
At first, from my closet, I was able to hear
her family's coninuo of talk.
My Sweetheart's grandson brought me to the shop.
Something has ruined my voice.
Older, not riper, I'm a sorry old bass.
But that doesn't mean I've lost hope
. . .that someone will hold me in a tender embrace,
her arms will encircle my neck;
someone will press her warm length to my back,
and pluck notes from my gut with her fingers' caress.

  • Marilyn Nelson
    “The Song is You”

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Show Notes & Links: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/2/6/2078951/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-Musical-Instruments-Sleep-in-the-Dark

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I'm Special Field Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 30 Jan 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"The Inevitability in the Lines of Our Hands"

1 - Blood, Sweat & Tears - John The Baptist
2 - Traffic - Forty Thousand Headmen
3 - Jethro Tull - A New Day Yesterday
4 - Procol Harum - Homburg
5 - King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King
6 - The Rosebuds - Woods

Station Break

7 - Quantic - Westbound Train
8 - Zero 7 - Give It Away
9 - Tosca - Rosa
10 - Ghostland Observatory - Silver City
11 - Death & Vanilla - Ghosts in the Machine
12 - Philip Glass & Foday Musa Suso - Warda’s Whorehouse
13 - Boogie Belgique - Forever and Ever

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That one day
we will wish
to be nothing more
than what we are.
That we will see
within ourselves
the liberation of nations, of concrete.
That we will understand
the inevitability
in the lines of our hands.
There is a war raging in our backyard
With it my sister's spirit burns
That the fire of my sister's spirit
will consume our enemies
& burn our streets clean.
There's a system of mangled necks
Whose heads speak with oracle tongues
That we should learn to walk
with wounded feet
That our eyes must be liberated
from their granite
That our hands re-root themselves
from the pools of acid rain
There's a river forming in the bureaucrat's head
Its water made from rusted milk
That we may understand this false constructed world & know:
Holy things
Do not die!

  • Matthew Shenoda
    “A Prayer for My People”

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Show Notes & Links: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/1/30/2077652/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-The-Inevitability-in-the-Lines-of-Our-Hands

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 23 Jan 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department

"The Pain Orbits Around Jupiter"

1 - Gil Scott-Heron - Jose Campos Torres
2 - Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning
3 - Siouxsie & The Banshees - Cities In Dust
4 - Wall of Voodoo - Factory
5 - Ghostland Observatory - Stranger Lover
6 - Cat Power - The Moon
7 - Beth Orton - She Cries Your Name

Station Break

8 - Nina Simone - Wild is the Wind
9 - Philip Glass - Kyoko’s House
10 - Los Straitjackets - University Boulevard
11 - Laika & The Cosmonauts - Salt Mine Twist
12 - The Mermen - Sponge Cookie
13 - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Mondo Bongo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think with you at the center of my thoughts. Europa orbits Jupiter and centers Jupiter in its thoughts. Europa thinks about its day, spinning around that thing that is slowest to come when you want to escape. It massages its swollen feet, points its toes to the wall, points them back. It spun through the day while deferring the day. It spins with no intention to arrive, no intention to push away. Spinning shallowly it thinks of shallow outer space. Europa wets its ankles and is in pain. The pain orbits around Jupiter. Europa hurts. It spins until it forgets Jupiter and thinks of the moment it spun around someone who wasn't there. It's space and space smiles like a doll whose neck is the only part that turns. When Europa thinks of space it thinks of the year 5000 or just before the year 5000 or just after the year 5000. It thinks of a star orbiting a faraway star. It writes down a date it can't live in and writes a diary entry where the letters orbit around letters. The spinning makes them round. The left side of the doll's face is spinning to arrive at its right side. It smiles from ear to ear as its neck becomes bright blue. A letter came from far away. A letter without an orbit. Every letter in it is a round fence. A bug smoothly steps over the back of another bug. Pushing forward a little at a time. It erects the walls it has passed behind it and spins. It presses its back against the thing it left behind. It goes forward.

  • Moon Bo Young
    “Life Centered Around”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/1/23/2076363/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-The-Pain-Orbits-Around-Jupiter

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 9 Jan 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"Hard Luck Spinning and Winning Souls"

1 - Mandolin Orange - Old Ties And Companions
2 - Gangstagrass - You Can Never Go Home Again
3 - Tin Hat Trio - The Longest Night
4 - Abigail Washburn - Sometimes
5- Gillian Welch - One More Dollar
6 - Be Good Tanyas - Lonesome Blues
7 - Kate Corbett - How Did I Get Here
8 - Sybil Baier - I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind

Station Break

9 - Roland Faunte - Hand Over Hand
10 - Djavan - Flor do Medo
11 - Bebel Gilberto - Samba da Bencoa
12 - Les Hommes - Intraspettro
13 - Thievery Corporation - All That We Perceive

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you weren’t here, I’d fear the surge
of surf. I’d watch the moon wax and wane,
feel the constant pulling of tides, the urge
to drown myself in pity and booze, to explain
my life as “Cape Disappointment” with hard luck
spinning and winning souls like mine, a jetty
of riprap pointing to my faults, the muck
of my past too deep to dredge. But you say
you see in me a strength that strengthens you,
a heart that yearns for your heart and finds it,
upsetting even the odds we thought we knew,
renewing old hopes, confounding old conflicts.
All I know is we’re here, my love, our bed warm,
your body a bulwark to ride out the storm.

  • Eleanor Channell
    “Rivermouth”

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Show Notes & Links: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/1/9/2073646/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-Hard-Luck-Spinning-and-Winning-Souls

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 2 Jan 22 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"The Heavens Glowing With Rough Stars"

1 - Lia Rose - Talking in Your Sleep
2 - Alfa Mist - Keep On
3 - Billie Marten - She Dances
4 - Steve Cipriani - Soft Dream
5 - Ólafur Arnalds - Gleypa Okkur

Station Break

6 - Duda Beat - Bédi Beat
7 - Azymuth - Linha Do Horizonte
8 - Quantic & Nidia Góngora - Que Me Duele
9 - Jorge Ben Jor - Errare Humanum Est
10 - Vanessa Da Mata - Segue o Som
11 - Gilberto Gil - Toda Menina Baiana
12 - BaianaSystem - Terapia

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was washing at night out in the yard—
the heavens glowing with rough stars.
A star-beam like salt upon an axe,
the water barrel brimful and cold.
A padlock makes the gate secure,
and conscience gives sternness to the earth—
hard to find a standard anywhere
purer than the truth of new-made cloth.
A star melts in the barrel like salt,
and the ice-cold winter is blacker still,
death is more pure, disaster saltier
and earth more truthful and more terrible.

  • Osip Mandelstam
    “I Was Washing At Night Out In The Yard”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/1/2/2072340/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-The-Heavens-Glowing-With-Rough-Stars

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I'm Special Agent DJ Justice, Radio Host and Managing Partner for Netroots Radio and I'm manning the dials, spinning the discs, warbling the woofers, putting a slip in your hip and a trip to your hop.

The playlist for 26 Dec 28 8pm to 9pm Pacific Edition of The Justice Department: Musique sans Frontieres

"The Bramble Spines That Grow Thick In The Forest"

1 - Patti Smith - Dancing Barefoot
2 - Le Couleur - Femme
3 - Hope Sandoval & The Warm Intentions - The Peasant
4 - Marie Plassard - The Look
5 - Tony Anderson - In the Distance
6 - Concrete Blonde - Scene of a Perfect Crime

Station Break

7 - Salomé Leclerc - Tourne Encore
8 - Sleep Dealer - The Way Home
9 - Anna von Hausswolff - The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra
10 - Emancipator - Time for Space
11 - The Saxophones - If You're On The Water

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My father’s hands were roped with scars
from burns at work. He had trouble
bending his fingers. The ache.
I watched him debone a perch
at sundown, run his ragged hands
over the thin thing, the spine curling
like rosemary from his grip
and onto the ground. My neighbor
asked for a jump, clapped the copper jaws
to make sparks in the sun. Then
he offered me meth for my car.
The woman I’m seeing has hands nearly
as big as mine. We share shoes.
She says I’ll come to hate her
if I stay long enough. I can’t
make sense of anything, but
I disagree. I cut my hand this week
on the bramble spines that grow thick
in the forest. I didn’t notice till I looked
and saw blood all over the door.
The light today shows all the moving pieces.
I think I can see them when I step out
and into the sun. My whole body hurts:
unholy choir. My dad is gone: his hands
did it to him. I try to keep busy. I hold
her hands. I clean the blood off the door.

  • Kelan Nee
    “Sparks in the Sun”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show Notes & Links: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/12/26/2071237/-The-Justice-Dept-on-Netroots-Radio-Presents-The-Bramble-Spines-That-Grow-Thick-In-The-Forest