Dead Bee Digest #2
zine, Invited Ghosts, [email protected], $2
With an eye to the far-off past and the far-off future, and some bleak poems in between, the folks at Invited Ghosts have put together a sobering, multi-contributor collection with their second volume of Dead Bee Digest. Alongside the dying off of pollinators to which their project’s title presumably eludes, there are several pessimistic (i.e. accurate) observations to be had here.
The zine is sub-titled “Far Past/Distant Future,” and begins with an essay on the complex efforts to warn distant future generations of the danger of today’s nuclear refuse. The key question: how to transcend 10,000 years of linguistic, semiotic evolution to get the message across? The zine’s closing piece is a similarly somber take on the book SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard. It draws parallels between the society of today and the worst excesses of ancient Rome. The three poems in the collection also resonate with the epic troubles of our times.
One comes away from Dead Bee Digest with an appreciation for multiple aspects of humanity’s self-inflicted fate. Honestly though, we’re so surrounded by opportunities to look into the abyss of our own destruction, what’s the use of one more? I suppose it’s one more voice to add to the chorus of the doomed. Pick this one up if you want to commiserate; steer clear if your head is too dark already.