They're one of humankind's oldest companions, and they have influenced our culture, language and even fashion. Yet, they have also caused some of the most devastating pandemics in the history of humans.
Join us as we explore the riveting, raucous, complicated and itchy story of our relationship with the flea.


Contributors: 
Dr Maureen Williams, parasitologist, Trinity College Dublin.
Manchán Magan, travel write and broadcaster.
Jay Ryan of Pignut Productions.


Produced by Colette Kinsella for Red Hare Media.
Production assistance by Regan Hutchins.
Artwork by Greg Dwyer.
With thanks to Una for sharing her itchy story.

FLEA

This week’s episode of Keywords is guided by the keywords ‘By Nature’.

Beginning with an early morning walk, rich with birdsong, Zoe Comyns introduces us to the world around us. We’re all living at very close quarters with the Lockdown and we’re possibly getting more familiar with the natural world on our doorstep.

In her story ‘Loft’, the writer Nuala O’Connor has her characters carry bird’s eggs from a loft onto a busy bus. ‘We put the eggs into our pockets, white specked and warm, no larger than stones.’

Actor and writer Jody O’Neill takes her inspiration from the quiet roads in Dublin city and the underground network of trees coming to life in the absence of human life.
‘And now that the people were gone, they could finally get on with their lives.’

Writer Alexi Francis considers the state of being lost in a forest full of myth and magic in her story ‘Let me dream, let me forget that I’m lost’. 

Paying attention to the smaller things around him is something that Bill Geraghty does in his garden. Recorded by his son, radio producer Liam Geraghty, we hear Bill pottering around his crop of onions and tomatoes and hear how he encounters a young robin redbreast.

In her Berlin apartment writer Emma Flynn records her diary as she attempts to grow plants from seeds. She compares her efforts with her mother in Ireland over a video call and observes the plants growing on her neighbour’s balcony.

Regan Hutchins and Kevin Donovan take early morning walks in the Phoenix Park which is close to their home. The sight and sound of skylarks fills them with joy and amusement.

John Smith is an Irish radio producer living in Canada and he has recorded the poet and academic Tim Lilburn. Tim lives on Vancouver Island and speaks about his struggles to feel a sense of place when he moved there. Tim found his way through language and the sounds of words describing nature. ‘Land is the language in linguistic form.

04. By Nature

Keywords

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