Beehive by Jean Toomer
9 Dec
I’m working at this fine place these days, writing and producing multimedia stories for their website. It has brought a lot of good poems into my life, like this one by Jean Toomer, which struck me with its eerie bustle — part city life sequence, part surrealist daydream.
Beehive
Within this black hive tonight
There swarm a million bees;
Bees passing in and out the moon,
Bees escaping out the moon,
Bees returning through the moon,
Silver bees intently buzzing,
Silver honey dripping from the swarm of bees
Earth is a waxen cell of the world comb,
And I, a drone,
Lying on my back,
Lipping honey,
Getting drunk with silver honey,
Wish that I might fly out past the moon
And curl forever in some far-off farmyard flower.
Lights Out on the Curious Ear!
18 AugLast week the silver-tongued Irish broadcaster Ronan Kelly featured Lights Out on his RTE program called The Curious Ear. He thought it was topical, what with all the rioting in and around London. Does every riot have a silver lining? It’s the first time a story I’ve made has been broadcast internationally! I’m honored.
While you’re here, may I recommend a Tumblr of songs curated by a dear friend of mine? She features one a week-ish, with a photo and some brief musings. Gallopinging.
After a long time away.
10 Jul
A story I made with support from the Sound Bank (thanks, In the Dark!) is now up online. It’s about the connection between the 1977 New York City blackout and the beginnings of hip-hop. What are those connections, you ask? Think aspiring young DJs without much money, post-blackout looting, and abundant hi-fi stores. And then, actually, just go listen to it. Thanks to Grandmaster Caz, Bronx County historian Lloyd Ultan, hip-hop historian Joe Schloss, the WNYC archives, and D.C. LaRue.
AND an exciting thing: the story got written up by the Guardian’s radio critic (yup, the Guardian has a radio critic).
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