May 2024 – Andy writes!

Thousands of writers the world over plan to take part in Jami Attenberg‘s two-week writing project, 1,000 Words of Summer (or, if hashtags are your thing, #1000WordsofSummer). The big write-a-thon starts this Saturday, June 1.

This marks the seventh year Jami has offered this project to the writing community, and this year, for the first time, I was planning to be one of those thousand-word-a-day scribblers. Alas, some life issues have interfered, so I won’t be able to join the mass writing event when it begins this Saturday, June 1. (As John Lennon put it, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”) I plan to join in spirit, and hope to make up for my absence with a two-week writing journey later this summer.

With apologies to Wallace Stevens.

Thirteen Ways of Hearing a Cicada

A rare dual brood emergence of cicadas is happening this spring, and it will not happen for another 221 years, according to entomologists. These insects can create sounds that often hit 90-100 decibels, which is louder than a hair dryer.

“The Year of the Periodical Cicadas,” The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, March 26, 2024

The first parties emerge

Like scouts, inspecting the land.

You hear a whir, a hiss, the sound

Of one winding a mechanical clock

Or a music box.

A small intrusion

Into the noises of mid-spring:

the chirping robins, yodeling cardinals,

hammering woodpeckers.

Month: May 2024

#1000WordsofSummer starts June 1

Thirteen Ways of Hearing a Cicada (a poem)

Thirteen Ways of Hearing a Cicada