“In Memory of Radio”

In the poem “In Memory of Radio”, Baraka in the beginning talks about Lamont Cranston and that he and Jack Kerouac only know of him and the rest of us know of Kate Smith. The speaker says he has no healing powers, no advice get saved or rich, no way to order us to the gas chamber, etc. He continuously talk of love vs. evil.

I looked up the people mentioned in the poem to understand their significance.The central image in the poem is a superhero from comic books and radio shows called The Shadow. Under the cloak of invisibility, The Shadow hunts down and roots out evil in the world. The words he uttered after he transformed himself from Lamont Cranston, a millionaire playboy, to The Shadow have become a part of popular culture: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows." The poem states that the root of evil is love; a very contradictory idea.

There is an interesting phrase mentioned after the third stanza, “and love is an evil word. Turn it backwards see/see what I mean?” This is an obvious contrast and opposition evident in this poem. I find it interesting though that there is no mention of a radio in the poem itself, however, the parentheses and added dialog and humor which created the effect of one.