by Kate Miller

Buoyed by the warm response to our first collaboration, we were both happy to dive into another film-poem. This time, Kate invited me to pick the poem, choosing from the same collection, The Long Beds.

I settled upon The Queen of Naples, asked about her childhood friend. I enjoyed the strong sense of place and vivid imagery within the text. The depiction of isolation was very prescient whilst in the midst of this unprecedented social lockdown, whilst there was also a through-line of influence made by The Tempest from our first film.

This poem inhabits the world of the play, imagining Shakespeare’s Miranda in retirement. She looks back on years of island life – lived in a lockdown magically enforced by Prospero and his captive spirits – finding solace in her connection to the transient population of birds and constant presence of wild bees.

Kate sourced the choral accompaniment for the film, which draws upon the descant of a piping bee – transcribed by the 17th century beekeeper-scholar Charles Butler – sung with haunting beauty by Little St. Mary’s Choir.

Watch below: