The Poison Pie Publishing House presents:

May 1, 2024
So dismal was the first impression of the settlement at Tenedos that some among them instantly regretted having left Crete. To go back was, of course, impossible. However, the women had fresh in their minds the paradisical images of Lesbos with its lush forests. They whispered among themselves, "Why not return to Lesbos? We can stand one more day in the hold." These murmurs never reached the captain, nor the magistrate of the colony to whom he ceded authority now that they were no longer at sea. They had not yet forgotten a life in the shadow of a tyrant where voicing doubt could have fatal consequences.

written while listening to:  Birgitte Lyregaard - Blue Anemone (Challenge Records, CHR70161, 2010, The Netherlands, cd, discogs.com)

May 2, 2024
It fell to Berenike once again to raise the spirits of the women. "Did we think a palace would be waiting for us to take up residence within its walls of marble? Did we suppose the vineyard already harvested, the wine already waiting in amphoras to be poured in celebration at our arrival? Did we not choose to immigrate here to flee a man in a palace? If we are to have a hand in the shaping of our new home, then it is only reasonable that we should start from scratch." After dinner, they slept on the beach as if at a waypoint.

written while listening to:  Maria Faust Sacrum Facere - Organ (Stunt Records, STULP 20071, 2020, Denmark, lp, discogs.com)

May 3, 2024
It was unclear if the stark reality of the camp had been better anticipated by the men. In any case, none gave vent to what misgivings they harbored. The choice of Tenedos as a strategic outpost had been communicated to them ere they left Crete. The island was situated at the southern end of the Hellespont strait, an important navigational route connecting the Aegean Sea and the northern body of water known to sailors alternatively as the Inhospitable Sea or the Hospitable Sea, depending upon one's experiences there. The opposite terms were used interchangeably without any confusion.

written while listening to:  Anna Webber - Third Floor People (Nowt Records, NOWT-005, 2010, United States, cd, discogs.com)

May 4, 2024
As for Europe's reaction to her arrival on Tenedos, she seemed nonplussed, though she expressed neither the reticence of the other women to embrace their home nor the stoicism of the men in accepting their lot. Her thoughts drifted inward, pulled by bizarre currents toward a circling, internal maelstrom to be submerged in darkness. She stared at the border between the rocky beach and the muddy clearing and spoke aloud her feeling to a passing chill wind, "I am not here. This is not me. There is no life that could ever have led me to this place."

written while listening to:  Derek Bailey - String Theory (Paratactile, PLE 1109-2, 2000, United Kingdom, cd, discogs.com)

May 5, 2024
When came the first morning on Tenedos, the sun rose over the island to the east, for they had settled on the west coast. Berenike declared to the women, "See, dawn has come to welcome us," as if this routine inevitability served as incontrovertible evidence that their endeavors were blessed by the cosmos. Her thoughts convulsed by doubt, Europe nevertheless smiled at Berenike's claim. Her reaction did not go unnoticed. Berenike smiled back and merrily exclaimed, "I win!" How could she know that she battled dark forces for the salvation of Europe's soul?

written while listening to:  Keiji Haino - Reveal'd to none as yet..., disc 2 (aRCHIVE/Important Records, archive14+15/imprec074, 2006, United States, cdx2, discogs.com)

May 6, 2024
Peasants and soldiers alike now lived as fellow colonists and set themselves to the labor at hand. The many tasks before them were prioritized by the magistrate, a burly man named Isodemos, who had tired of army life. He possessed a rough and tumble charisma that appealed more to men than women. Isodemos had received a set of instructions from the palace aimed at establishing the colony at a relatively brisk pace. Their motivation for making rapid progress lay in the promise (or threat) of Knossos to provide supplies only for a limited time before the outpost was expected to be largely self-sufficient.

written while listening to:  The Art Ensemble of Chicago - Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City, disc 1 (Pi Recordings, PI20, 2006, United States, cdx2, discogs.com)

May 7, 2024
Half the men labored to clear additional land for both shelter and agriculture. Others worked with the felled timber to construct a long house to serve as a shared dwelling until smaller private homes followed. Still others gathered stones from a nearby sinkhole, depositing them in a line along the perimeter of the camp to act as a kind of growing fortification against invaders, be they sailors in the service of foreign powers or pirates unaffiliated with any government. A watch was set at night, lest the fruits of their labor fall prey to nocturnal raids.

written while listening to:  Joëlle Léandre Project - untitled (Leo Records, CD LR 287, 2000, United Kingdom, cd, discogs.com)

May 8, 2024
The women too had little opportunity to lounge about. Not only did the cooking and laundry fall to them, but they were assigned the weaving of thatch for roofs and the gathering of fresh water from a nearby stream. The consoling of their husbands was also a task that they did not shirk. Even when they relocated from the beach to the long house, the sounds of love-making, rendered as inconspicuous as possible, given the public accommodations, murmured through the darkness. All expected children to be born on Tenedos, a first generation that would assume leadership of the colony in due time.

written while listening to:  Frode Gjerstad & Matthew Shipp - We Speak (Relative Pitch Records, RPR1154, 2023, United States, cd, discogs.com)

May 9, 2024
Europe worked alongside the other women. She was not prone to sulking. Of her inner turmoil, she said nothing. However, she felt her solitude keenly, for where the colonists poured their time, energy and indeed their very selves into the construction of their new home, Europe could only perceive the labor as a way to stave off idleness. Her inability to give of herself further isolated her from everyone else. Although no words were exchanged on this subject, she could not help but suspect that the Cretans viewed her as an outsider who did not belong.

written while listening to:  Maria Bertel - Monophonic (Relative Pitch Records, RPRSS030, 2024, United States, cd, discogs.com)

May 10, 2024
Berenike seemed possessed of an endless store of concern. Not only did she tend to her husband and continue to reassure the other wives with regular, optimistic observations, she also kept a watchful eye on her sister. When it seemed her silences lasted too long, she would seek out Europe. Approaching her in the clearing, their peploses tied high on their thighs, their legs splattered with mud to the knees, she leaned over and hugged her. Europe for her part did not pull away but allowed the embrace to last for as long Berenike deemed necessary.

written while listening to:  Amir ElSaffar - Alchemy (Pi Recordings, PI51, 2013, United States, cd, discogs.com)

May 11, 2024
Tenedos spanned six miles from east to west. An equal distance separated the far side of the island from the mainland, where Aeolian Greeks and Hittites clashed, each seeking to wrest control of the coast from the other. The Cretan colonists discovered tracks in the interior of the island, indicating the presence of another settlement. Some furtive reconnaissance confirmed the presence of a Hittite village established on the far, west shore. In a matter of weeks, two scouts from that village were observed on a ridge over-looking the colony. The men did not initiate contact but apparently returned home to make their report.

written while listening to:  Morton Feldman - Patterns in a Chromatic Field (Tzadik, TZ 8002, 2004, United States, cd, discogs.com)

May 12, 2024
The conversation in the long house that evening was consumed by the sighting of the Hittites. Many were the questions raised. Why had the two scouts kept their distance? Would they return on the morrow with a war party or a peaceful delegation? None among the Cretans spoke more than a word or two of Hittite. A sailor who had traveled to Tarsus claimed the Hittites worshipped one thousand gods, chief among them a goddess who had risen from infernal depths to seize the sun and thus control the fate of their crops. The watch was doubled and each man kept a spear at arm's reach.

written while listening to:  Andrew Cyrille - X Man (Black Saint, 121262-2, 1994, Italy, cd, discogs.com)

May 13, 2024
Each woman was distributed a dagger and told to keep it on her person at all times. Most of them had gutted a pig or skinned a goat and knew how to handle a knife. The men discussed confining the women to the near vicinity of the long house for their own safety. One wife with a feisty temper, Enyo, voiced her displeasure before the rule was adopted. She climbed to her feet and demonstrated how she would demurely hide the blade behind one thigh, then thrust it forward into the belly of her would-be assailant before fleeing back to the safety of the colony.

written while listening to:  Egberto Gismonti - Selected Recordings (ECM Records, :rarum XI, 2004 (orig. 1978-1991), Germany, cd, discogs.com)

May 14, 2024
Enyo promised to teach every woman in the colony how to kill a Hittite. This seemed to amuse the magistrate, who had partaken in too much wine. He encouraged her to provide an example of her instruction to the assembly. Enyo called Berenike to join her up front, but she was too shy and instead volunteered Europe, who acquiesced. With daggers in hand, the women faced each other. Europe had the advantage of height but Enyo possessed a stockier frame. Enyo growled and deepened her voice. "Look at the lean morsel I have found!" she shouted to the crowd.

written while listening to:  Bob Stagner, Mike Baggetta & Evan Lipson - Triage (Ramble Records, RAM 129, 2023, Australia, digital files, discogs.com)