The River Is Wide

Series produced by Susan J. Cook

Caption: ...wide river as ever..., Credit: Susan Cook
Image by: Susan Cook 
...wide river as ever... 

The River Is Wide is one listener's complement to public radio as media that has always made room for thoughtful, humane human discourse. These essays and poems are commentaries written by a political activist, psychologist and play therapist about the many provocative events in our state, country and world that remind us that the river is wide and each and everyone one of us is needed to cross it. We have much to lose- all of us- when our ideas and actions are premised on the belief that we never need any help getting across. Public radio that stirs the public conscience- free of personal influence peddling- that values thoughtful voice and speaks truth above partisan rhetoric - helps us all get across. The River Is Wide presents a series of Citizen's Guides, the occasional Congressional Guide when necessary, sonnets when no other format seems appropriate, an ode here and there In the Department of Poetic Justice, Sixty-second Moral Inquiries and brief commentaries . Public radio is a muse and PRX has become the pen and paper, yes, for many former and current letter-to-the-editor writers, including this one.

The series began rowing when a local editor refused to publish a letter criticizing a political candidate for a failure to acknowledge human rights violations by the Chinese government calling it "uncivil". Another inspiration has been the censorship of "The humble Farmer" from Maine Public Broadcasting (see freethehumblefarmer.com). The commentaries and entries in the Citizen's Guide, sonnets and odes In the Department of Poetic Justice, Sixty Second Moral Inquiries and the 'new' Two and One Half Minute Conspiracy Theory section speak to issues that stir the public conscience (and mine) and speak truth to power (everyone else's) especially surrounding freedom of speech in the media, injustice and harm.


327 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: ...wide river as ever..., Credit: Susan Cook
Poetry Month and Einstein creating E=mc squared

  • Added: Apr 14, 2021
  • Length: :55
Caption: ...wide river as ever..., Credit: Susan Cook
In National Poetry Month, a poem to explain how the Higgs boson really works.

  • Added: Apr 14, 2021
  • Length: :49
Caption: ...wide river as ever..., Credit: Susan Cook
Thomas Edison and what his light did- understood through an American Sonnet.

  • Added: Apr 14, 2021
  • Length: :55
Caption: Breathing; American Sonnets, Credit: Susan Cook (Finishing Line, 2020))
In the large, large universe, the mind's eye still sees what it will.

  • Added: Apr 14, 2021
  • Length: :57
Caption: There's a quote from the Bible I've taken to lately..., Credit: Edgar Cook
There are many many examples of malice these days. And then there are the opportunities to do good.

  • Added: Aug 22, 2021
  • Length: 03:28
Caption: ...wide river as ever..., Credit: Susan Cook
The Supreme Court decision to ignore the inhumane aspects of the Texas Abortion law reminds us to look to the places where human connection is val...

  • Added: Sep 03, 2021
  • Length: 08:17
Caption: ...wide river as ever..., Credit: Susan Cook
Getting vaccinated and wearing a mask may be all there is to making someone happy in Covid-19 times.

Bought by KMXT


  • Added: Nov 26, 2021
  • Length: 03:52
  • Purchases: 1