Our show today comes in one part. Poet tessa micaela reads an extended excerpt from their book of poetry entitled where bells begin. tessa and I collaborated on this audio treatment of their poem. After conversing then recording tessa reading, I collected sounds, mostly in wild parts of South Africa and in the town of Waterval Boven in Mpumalanga province.

I mixed these sounds with tessa’s reading. You will hear a variety of birds and other wild and domesticated animals. where bells begin immerses the reader and listener into a world that is both foreign and familiar. The main character, who simply goes by the single letter, O, walks through this world, interacts with it, is ignored by it, and endures in it.

The only piece of music in this audio treatment is the bass track of Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen’s song Never Forget. The episode ends with the track Dreamaway by Dreem and is available on Epidemicmusic.com

For the best experience, I suggest you use headphones or ear buds as you listen to this audio treatment of tessa micaela’s where bells begin.

Tessa Micaela is the author of where bells begin (Rescue Press, November 2019), there are boxes and there is wanting (Trembling Pillow Press, 2016), and the chapbook Crude Matter (ypolita press, 2016). Tessa writes poems, essays and letters, some of which have appeared in jubilat, ELDERLY, Make/shift, and Dusie. Tessa was born and raised on the Lenni-Lenape land of Philadelphia, and resides on the unceded Abenaki land of central Vermont. Tessa is a midwife, a clinical and community herbalist, care-worker and educator. More information can be found at tessamicaela.com and moonrootmedicinals.com.

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