About the syrinx

Primarily here, the syrinx is the voice box of a bird. Humans have larynxes; birds have syrinxes. The syrinx is shaped like an upside down Y and birds use both arms of the Y to make sound. This means they can make two sounds at once, or very rapid sounds, or one sound scaling up and the other down, or all of the above. This ability is most advanced in passerines, or perching birds.

Syrinx was also a nymph. She was pursued by the god Pan and fled into the river, where her voice became the wind in the reeds. Pan grieved for her, took reeds and made the pan pipe. A syrinx is thus also a word for a pan pipe.

A syrinx is also a medical problem, essentially a tube where it shouldn't be.

i like the idea of a nom de plume similar to ones used by Victorian newspaper columnists. The name itself becomes a commentary.

i also like the idea of making sounds that are different, not human, aesthetically challenging, maybe beautiful or moving.

And i like the idea of a reed, hollow, a vessel for sound, for the songs of others or maybe new sounds entirely.

This blog will be sometimes humorous, sometimes reflective, and it may involve what passes for poems. There will be times when it will slip into a parallel universe that is almost but not entirely unlike this one. i cannot predict when this will happen. There will also be deliberate distortions of identities and some events, to protect those around me, because i have a sensitive job.

i hope to have some fun.