John and Lynn dig into a question folks increasingly ask when feeling alone, abandoned, not listened to, or just in one of those states of mind where we aren’t sure where we are or where we’re going. We ponder what allows for connection, what comforts us and makes us feel safe and part of something. Our poems this time focus in part on books enduring, traveling, accompanying us through life as we go through stages. “Is anyone there?” is also a question for our time, as people live in their echo chambers and atomized spaces, whether real or virtual. We invite you to think about when you hazard a “hello” and wonder where it will land and who will receive it.
Song 1: “Say Hello” (composed and performed by John V. Modaff)
Poem 1: “Narrative Without People” by Hilda Raz, from Divine Honors. Author of eight collections of poems. The epigraph to this book is by Cynthia Macdonald: “May I see what I have tried not to see.” Hilda’s collected poems are published by the University of Nebraska Press (2021).
Fiction: “Hello Hello,” a story by Lynn C. Miller. Her fifth novel, The Surrogate, comes out March 31, 2026 from the University of Wisconsin Press. https://uwpress.wisc.edu/Books/T/The-Surrogate
Feed the Cat Break: “The A Train Home” (Chris Geyerman & John V. Modaff)
Poem 2: “Forever,” by poet Jack Cooper, author of Silly Lily’s Rhyming Adventures In Nature (2023) and Across My Silence (2007) World Audience, Inc. https://sillylilysadventures.com/
Song 2: “High Class” (John V. Modaff , with Dan Modaff on guitar/banjo interlude)
Episode artwork by Lynda Miller
Show theme and incidental music by John V. Modaff, BMI
The Unruly Muse is Recorded in Albuquerque, NM and Morehead, KY
Produced at The Creek Studio, Morehead KY
NEXT UP: April, 2026 Episode 58: “Approach/Avoidance”