Joe Kearney
speaker
57 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 13 Jul
Joe Kearney’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
To quote the American poet Longfellow,
The square root of half a number of bees and also eight ninths of the whole alighted on the jasmines.
And a female buzzed responsive to the hum of a closed water lily.
Oh beautiful damsel, tell me the number of bees.
My years with the bees were contented ones.
They tied me to the seasons.
Whenever I cracked apart the propolis glue of the hives, I'd inhale the aroma of pollen and beeswax and honey associated with that particular foraging season.
From the weigelia and gorse of early spring right up to the heather of autumn, it was there to see and smell and taste.
But one summer evening, all this changed.
I opened the hives and perhaps I hurried the flock.
Maybe there was thunder in the air that I never sensed.
They became angry.
No amount of smoke from my smoker would calm them down.
They stung me repeatedly until I had no option but to abandon my work.
They did what they have perfected over many millions of years.
They drove away their tormentor.
I didn't feel well.
I stumbled into the house and luckily my wife was on hand to get me to a doctor.
By coincidence, he was also a beekeeper and recognised instantly the symptoms of anaphylaxis.
I shot of adrenaline and I was right as rain, but it was a close call.
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