A daily love poem for February — with gentle commentary after each reading.

February Love Poem Series – Day 5: “Scaffolding” by Seamus Heaney

Welcome to The Porcupine Presents and our month-long celebration of love in all its forms.
Each day of February, we bring you a new poem — romantic, bittersweet, playful, or aching — followed by a brief reflection to deepen your listening experience.

Today’s poem is “Scaffolding” by Seamus Heaney, a work that explores the quiet maintenance required to keep love standing strong, even when it feels fragile or tested. With characteristic tenderness, Heaney reminds us that relationships often depend not on dramatic displays of affection but on the steady, unseen work that holds everything together.

After the poem, stay tuned for a short commentary discussing Heaney’s metaphor of construction as emotional labor, how this early poem foreshadows themes found throughout his career, and why the piece resonates so deeply with anyone who has built — or rebuilt — a life with another.

Originally published: 1966

Approx. runtime: 3:30 minutes

Music: “A Very Brady Special” by Kevin MacLeod

A daily love poem for February — with gentle commentary after each reading.

February Love Poem Series – Day 4: “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Welcome to The Porcupine Presents and our month-long celebration of love in all its forms.
Each day of February, we bring you a new poem — romantic, bittersweet, playful, or aching — followed by a brief reflection to deepen your listening experience.

Today’s poem is “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a work that explores love in its most expansive, unbounded, and spiritual dimensions. Browning transforms a simple question into a sweeping catalogue of devotion — love measured not in moments, but in the entire architecture of a life.

After the poem, stay tuned for a short commentary discussing how the sonnet fits into Browning’s life-changing romance with Robert Browning, why its form intensifies its emotional resonance, and how this Victorian declaration of love continues to speak so directly to modern listeners — offering context, nuance, and a bit of literary delight.

Originally published: 1850

Approx. runtime: 4 minutes

Music: “A Very Brady Special” by Kevin MacLeod

A daily love poem for February — with gentle commentary after each reading.

February Love Poem Series – Day 3: “Juke Box Love Song” by Langston Hughes
Welcome to The Porcupine Presents and our month-long celebration of love in all its forms.
Each day of February, we bring you a new poem — romantic, bittersweet, playful, or aching — followed by a brief reflection to deepen your listening experience.

Today’s poem is “Juke Box Love Song” by Langston Hughes, a luminous celebration of Harlem, romance, and music. This poem blends affection with place — turning a neighborhood into a love song and transforming ordinary city life into something glowing, rhythmic, and intimate. It’s a poem about how deeply love can live inside the everyday world around us.

After the poem, stay tuned for a short commentary discussing
• how Hughes turns Harlem into both setting and beloved,• the poem’s musicality and its ties to jazz culture, and• why this love poem still feels fresh, modern, and alive.

Originally published: 1926
Approx. runtime: 3:30 minutes
Music: “A Very Brady Special” by Kevin MacLeod

A daily love poem for February — with gentle commentary after each reading.

February Love Poem Series – Day 2: “Love Is Not All” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Welcome to The Porcupine Presents and our month-long celebration of love in all its forms.

Each day of February, we bring you a new poem — romantic, bittersweet, playful, or aching — followed by a brief reflection to deepen your listening experience.

Today’s poem is “Love Is Not All” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, a work that explores the tension between love’s limits and its irresistible pull — how we can know love cannot save us, and yet find ourselves willing to sacrifice everything for it.
It’s a sonnet that acknowledges life’s harsh realities while admitting the fierce, irrational gravity of the heart.

After the poem, stay tuned for a short commentary discussing Millay’s realist approach to love, the emotional turn that transforms the poem’s meaning, and why this sonnet remains one of the most honest love poems of the 20th century — offering context, nuance, and a bit of literary delight.

Originally published: 1931
Approx. runtime: 4 minutes

Music: “A Very Brady Special” by Kevin MacLeod

A classic radio horror from the golden age of radio — plus bonus commentary and trivia after the show.

Suspense – “The Dunwich Horror” (1945)

Step back into the golden age of radio with Suspense, the premier mystery and thriller series of the 1940s. In this 1945 classic, “The Dunwich Horror,” rural New England becomes the setting for an ancient terror as a strange child grows into something neither human nor fully visible — and the hills echo with sounds no living creature should make.

After the broadcast, stay tuned for bonus commentary and behind-the-scenes trivia — including how Suspense adapted Lovecraft’s notoriously atmospheric style, why this episode remains one of radio’s most celebrated horror productions, and the techniques used to create its unforgettable monster soundscape.

Originally aired: November 1, 1945

Approx. runtime: 30 minutes

A daily love poem for February — with gentle commentary after each reading.

February Love Poem Series – Day 1: “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold

Welcome to The Porcupine Presents and our month-long celebration of love in all its forms.
Each day of February, we bring you a new poem — romantic, bittersweet, playful, or aching — followed by a brief reflection to deepen your listening experience.

Today’s poem is “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold, a work that explores love as an anchor in a world of uncertainty — the tension between beauty and despair, and the deep human longing for connection in a landscape where old certainties have slipped away.

After the poem, stay tuned for a short commentary discussing Arnold’s use of the sea as emotional metaphor, why the poem is often called a “honeymoon elegy,” and how its final plea for steadfast love still speaks powerfully to modern listeners — offering context, nuance, and a bit of literary delight.

Originally published: 1867
Approx. runtime: 6 minutes

Music in episode: “A Very Brady Special” by Kevin MacLeod

When everything collides, nothing stays the same.

WARNING: MATURE LANGUAGE AND SITUATIONS

🎧 Sherlock Holmes: The Last Analysis – Episode 6: “Convergence”

In Episode 6 of Sherlock Holmes: The Last Analysis, chaos and clarity arrive in the same breath. Molly Hooper’s unexpected return to Baker Street sends Sherlock spiraling into a frantic attempt at normalcy — a dinner, a clean flat, a sense of stability he’s never mastered. What begins as hospitality quickly unravels into confession, vulnerability, and a fragile reconnection years in the making.

But emotional turmoil is only half the storm. A misstep at the airport unleashes a diplomatic headache, a surprise appearance from Sherlock’s mother reveals more than he intended, and Molly’s presence stirs truths he can no longer outrun. As the evening unfolds, the case jolts forward: a new American lead surfaces, reshaping everything Holmes thought he understood about the threat closing in on them.

Tonight’s chapters mark a moment where relationships, revelations, and danger intersect — the point at which every thread in Sherlock’s life begins to converge.

Originally aired: January 2026
Approx. runtime: 31 minutes

A classic radio horror from the golden age of radio — plus bonus commentary and trivia after the show.

The Hermit’s Cave – “The House on Lost Man’s Bluff” (1947)

Step back into the golden age of radio with The Hermit’s Cave, the long-running anthology known for its eerie atmosphere, pulpy thrills, and the unforgettable cackle of its mysterious narrator. In this 1947 classic, “The House on Lost Man’s Bluff,” a lone traveler seeks shelter on a stormy night — only to discover that the isolated hilltop house he enters holds secrets no living person should witness.

After the broadcast, stay tuned for bonus commentary and behind-the-scenes trivia — including how The Hermit’s Cave was produced across multiple local stations, why its sound effects became such a memorable part of its identity, and what gives this particular episode its enduring spooky charm.

Originally aired: 1947

Approx. runtime: 28 minutes

Bonus Episode

As a heavy snowstorm moves in where the Porcupine is, there’s one story that always comes to mind: “To Build a Fire.”

This bonus episode of The Porcupine Presents is shared not because it was on the schedule, but because the weather demanded it.

Jack London’s classic short story is one of the starkest expressions of literary naturalism — a reminder that nature does not negotiate, confidence is not the same as wisdom, and small decisions can carry irreversible consequences.

After the story, stay with me for a brief discussion of:

• literary naturalism

• how each choice the man makes narrows his chances

• and why this story remains so unsettling more than a century later

For now, settle in somewhere warm, let the snow stay outside, and listen.

Stay warm — and enjoy.

Originally aired: January 2026

Approx. runtime: 48 minutes

A classic radio comedy from the golden age of radio — plus bonus commentary and trivia after the show.

The Great Gildersleeve – “The Jolly Boys’ Election” (1942)

Step back into the golden age of radio with The Great Gildersleeve, one of the earliest and most beloved sitcoms in broadcast history. In this 1942 classic, “The Jolly Boys’ Election,” Gildersleeve gets swept into the political drama of Summerfield’s least organized men’s club — the Jolly Boys — as the group attempts to elect a new president with all the grace and competence of a barbershop quartet falling down a flight of stairs.

After the broadcast, stay tuned for bonus commentary and behind-the-scenes trivia — including how the Jolly Boys became a fan-favorite recurring cast, why their off-key harmonizing became a running joke, and how this early sitcom spinoff helped shape radio comedy for years to come.

Originally aired: May 10, 1942

Approx. runtime: 32 minutes