Steven Sametz’s tongue is planted firmly in his cheek in this setting of the first two stanzas of Emily Dickinson’s poem, The Bee. Short, sweet, and onomatopoetic, Sametz produces buzzing bees on either side of the Dickinson text. Close harmonies perfectly support the buzzing effect.

Like trains of cars on tracks of plush
I hear the level bee:
A jar across the flowers goes,
Their velvet masonry

Withstands until the sweet assault
Their chivalry consumes,
While he, victorious, tilts away
To vanquish other blooms.

– Emily Dickinson