There are millions of podcasts.
Most of them are perfectly harmless.
A few can be helpful, especially
If you’re chronically depressed.
Now and then, you might stumble upon
A program that casts a cloud
Over your day. Or your entire week.
But isn’t that what love is all about?
Being harmless… and sometimes helpful
But prone to ruining your self-esteem.
When I speak of love — which
Everyone is talking about, it seems,
The second week in February,
Leading up to Valentine’s Day —
Please understand this isn’t ‘eros’
But rather, the love known as ‘agape’
A higher state of love than what
I feel for my favorite movie star,
Or that redhead, smiling at me
From the other end of the bar.
Who can quench my loneliness
When the night falls, cold and heavy?
No one but my favorite podcast host
Sharing a universal remedy
Or a discerning explanation
About alien visitation,
Brazilian deforestation,
Or the dangers of vaccination.
Granted, those subjects hardly suit
The celebration of a Roman martyr,
A bishop known as Valentinus,
Mysterious, but also a converter
When the judge saw him return
Sight to a poor blind girl.
Still, the Emperor had him beheaded,
Which is how he left this world,
Loving Jesus more than life
But giving us a day to celebrate
With loving children and wives,
Even, with in-laws or a roommate
And show our love for priests and pastors
But especially, for podcasters.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.