Jay Leeming
@jayleeming.bsky.social
Storyteller, poet, and musician bringing traditional stories alive through music and the spoken word. Lately I have been focused on the Odyssey, the Iliad and the Mahabharata.
While reading the Odyssey on the plane we passed over the island of Lesbos, where Nestor stopped on his way home from the Trojan war. Travels in story and travels in the world-- and is there really any difference? I'm glad to be here.
November 5, 2025 at 5:30 PM
While reading the Odyssey on the plane we passed over the island of Lesbos, where Nestor stopped on his way home from the Trojan war. Travels in story and travels in the world-- and is there really any difference? I'm glad to be here.
The stories live not just in words but in our dreaming hearts and in the sea and the wind. But on this particular journey my copy of the Odyssey is beginning to take on a talismanic character!
November 3, 2025 at 7:14 PM
The stories live not just in words but in our dreaming hearts and in the sea and the wind. But on this particular journey my copy of the Odyssey is beginning to take on a talismanic character!
Portrait of a storyteller about to set out on a two-month storytelling journey through Cyprus and Greece. A journey from Ithaca to Ithaki, a setting out and a return. Story is the path.
October 28, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Portrait of a storyteller about to set out on a two-month storytelling journey through Cyprus and Greece. A journey from Ithaca to Ithaki, a setting out and a return. Story is the path.
I'm looking forward to roaming these seas once again!
October 7, 2025 at 9:36 PM
I'm looking forward to roaming these seas once again!
I'll be telling the Odyssey online all next week from 7-8:30 PM EDT, entering a world of sea-gods, floating cities, and gender-bending prophets in the Land of the Dead. This is a fundraiser for my upcoming storytelling journey to Greece and Cyprus. Full details on my website-- join me if you can!
September 29, 2025 at 5:05 PM
I'll be telling the Odyssey online all next week from 7-8:30 PM EDT, entering a world of sea-gods, floating cities, and gender-bending prophets in the Land of the Dead. This is a fundraiser for my upcoming storytelling journey to Greece and Cyprus. Full details on my website-- join me if you can!
Live in the studio today for my bi-weekly "Mythic Landscape Radio Hour" at our beloved community radio station WRFI, where our autumn fund drive is in full swing. Amid the microphones and clocks the mystery of story is unleashed.
You can support the crucial magic of community radio at WRFI.org.
You can support the crucial magic of community radio at WRFI.org.
September 27, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Live in the studio today for my bi-weekly "Mythic Landscape Radio Hour" at our beloved community radio station WRFI, where our autumn fund drive is in full swing. Amid the microphones and clocks the mystery of story is unleashed.
You can support the crucial magic of community radio at WRFI.org.
You can support the crucial magic of community radio at WRFI.org.
Here's an amazing painting inspired by the Finnish epic known as the Kalevala. It's by the Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela , and well conveys the beautiful darkness of these stories. Bravo!
September 4, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Here's an amazing painting inspired by the Finnish epic known as the Kalevala. It's by the Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela , and well conveys the beautiful darkness of these stories. Bravo!
Behind the mic at beloved WRFI radio here in Ithaca, for my bi-weekly Mythic Landscape Radio Hour. Mythology, maps of the soul, and spoken rituals for our communal dreamtime all happening live from 10-11 AM every other Saturday...I'm grateful for this amazing community radio station!
September 1, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Behind the mic at beloved WRFI radio here in Ithaca, for my bi-weekly Mythic Landscape Radio Hour. Mythology, maps of the soul, and spoken rituals for our communal dreamtime all happening live from 10-11 AM every other Saturday...I'm grateful for this amazing community radio station!
Here's one of my favorite versions of the "Arabian Nights," a clear and stripped-down translation by Husain Haddawy which I found on 5th Avenue one day while walking past Central Park. Larger translations beckon as well, but this is a good intro to the rowdy multiverse of these stories.
August 29, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Here's one of my favorite versions of the "Arabian Nights," a clear and stripped-down translation by Husain Haddawy which I found on 5th Avenue one day while walking past Central Park. Larger translations beckon as well, but this is a good intro to the rowdy multiverse of these stories.
I've always loved the poetry of James Wright, and recently recorded a podcast exploring his poem "Goodbye to the Poetry of Calcium." This poem marks the beginning of his journey into an entirely new kind of poetry. You can listen for free at this link:
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
July 19, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I've always loved the poetry of James Wright, and recently recorded a podcast exploring his poem "Goodbye to the Poetry of Calcium." This poem marks the beginning of his journey into an entirely new kind of poetry. You can listen for free at this link:
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
I just finished recording "The Iliad Part Seven: the Greeks Arrive at Troy," and you can hear it at the link below. It's a joy to work with this story that moves so surely from anger to grief to wisdom.
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
June 24, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I just finished recording "The Iliad Part Seven: the Greeks Arrive at Troy," and you can hear it at the link below. It's a joy to work with this story that moves so surely from anger to grief to wisdom.
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
"The collective unconscious is as wide as the world and open to all the world. There I forget all too easily who I really am...But this self is the world, if only a consciousness could see it. That is why we must know who we are." --C.G. Jung, "The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious," p. 22
June 18, 2025 at 4:13 PM
"The collective unconscious is as wide as the world and open to all the world. There I forget all too easily who I really am...But this self is the world, if only a consciousness could see it. That is why we must know who we are." --C.G. Jung, "The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious," p. 22
My most recent podcast is an exploration of Rumi's poem "The Diver's Clothes Lying Empty on the Beach," as translated by Coleman Barks. This is one of my favorite Rumi poems, and you can listen to this podcast (and hear poem in the original Farsi) at this link: www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
June 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM
My most recent podcast is an exploration of Rumi's poem "The Diver's Clothes Lying Empty on the Beach," as translated by Coleman Barks. This is one of my favorite Rumi poems, and you can listen to this podcast (and hear poem in the original Farsi) at this link: www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
If you're interested in the Iliad, I will be leading an exploration of that story this summer, beginning online on Monday, June 9th at 5 PM EDT. Each week I will tell a part of the story and then lead an exploration of. If you'd like to be a part of this, please get in touch! www.JayLeeming.com
June 4, 2025 at 2:18 PM
If you're interested in the Iliad, I will be leading an exploration of that story this summer, beginning online on Monday, June 9th at 5 PM EDT. Each week I will tell a part of the story and then lead an exploration of. If you'd like to be a part of this, please get in touch! www.JayLeeming.com
This summer I will be exploring the epic of the Iliad online every Monday from 5-6 PM EDT. These performances are free to those in my Patreon community; others can take part either by joining that community or making a donation through my website. If you'd like to take part, please get in touch!
June 3, 2025 at 12:47 PM
This summer I will be exploring the epic of the Iliad online every Monday from 5-6 PM EDT. These performances are free to those in my Patreon community; others can take part either by joining that community or making a donation through my website. If you'd like to take part, please get in touch!
So before Achilles goes off to war, he spends a year disguised as a dancing girl on the island of Skyros. "Never give a sword to a man who can't dance," as they say. This is one of my favorite stories from the "expanded' Iliad, and you can hear my version of it here:
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
May 29, 2025 at 2:46 PM
So before Achilles goes off to war, he spends a year disguised as a dancing girl on the island of Skyros. "Never give a sword to a man who can't dance," as they say. This is one of my favorite stories from the "expanded' Iliad, and you can hear my version of it here:
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
I'll be telling stories from the lost epic known as the Cypria this tonight at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. Tonight we will meet Helen herself, the wild daughter of Zeus, and Achilles will spend some time (of course!) as a dancing girl. If you are in the area, come check it out!
May 8, 2025 at 2:27 PM
I'll be telling stories from the lost epic known as the Cypria this tonight at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. Tonight we will meet Helen herself, the wild daughter of Zeus, and Achilles will spend some time (of course!) as a dancing girl. If you are in the area, come check it out!
I'll be telling stories from the lost epic known as the Cypria this Wednesday and Thursday at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. If you are in the area, come check it out! It's always a joy to bring these stories to life--
May 6, 2025 at 12:13 PM
I'll be telling stories from the lost epic known as the Cypria this Wednesday and Thursday at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. If you are in the area, come check it out! It's always a joy to bring these stories to life--
I'm excited to be bringing part two of my "Expanded Iliad" to life tonight at the Cherry Artspace here in Ithaca. The daughter of Zeus has sailed across the sea, Achilles has put away his dancing shoes, and multiple goddesses are determined to see Troy razed to the ground-- what will happen next?
May 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I'm excited to be bringing part two of my "Expanded Iliad" to life tonight at the Cherry Artspace here in Ithaca. The daughter of Zeus has sailed across the sea, Achilles has put away his dancing shoes, and multiple goddesses are determined to see Troy razed to the ground-- what will happen next?
I've just updated the Crane Bag Podcast archive of story, which now includes over 130 episodes encompassing Norse myth, the Odyssey, the Mahabharata, many fairy tales, Sufi wisdom stories, and the epic story of the Irish hero Fionn MacCumhail.
www.jayleeming.com/archive-of-e...
www.jayleeming.com/archive-of-e...
May 1, 2025 at 2:37 PM
I've just updated the Crane Bag Podcast archive of story, which now includes over 130 episodes encompassing Norse myth, the Odyssey, the Mahabharata, many fairy tales, Sufi wisdom stories, and the epic story of the Irish hero Fionn MacCumhail.
www.jayleeming.com/archive-of-e...
www.jayleeming.com/archive-of-e...
Part five of my "Expanded Iliad" involves a horse sacrifice, various journeys across land and sea, and an offering to Poseidon himself. You can check it out at this link:
www.jayleeming.com/the-iliad.html
www.jayleeming.com/the-iliad.html
April 29, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Part five of my "Expanded Iliad" involves a horse sacrifice, various journeys across land and sea, and an offering to Poseidon himself. You can check it out at this link:
www.jayleeming.com/the-iliad.html
www.jayleeming.com/the-iliad.html
The wayward daughter of Zeus has set sail across the sea, Achilles has put away his dancing shoes, and multiple goddesses are determined to see Troy razed to the ground. What will happen next? I'm looking forward to bringing this story alive on Saturday, May 3rd here in Ithaca.
April 21, 2025 at 9:34 PM
The wayward daughter of Zeus has set sail across the sea, Achilles has put away his dancing shoes, and multiple goddesses are determined to see Troy razed to the ground. What will happen next? I'm looking forward to bringing this story alive on Saturday, May 3rd here in Ithaca.
I recently spoke with the amazing poet Steve Scafidi about inspiration, William Faulkner, what it was like to hate poetry in high school, carpentry, and the future of humanity. You can listen to our conversation--and hear him read a poem--here:
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
April 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
I recently spoke with the amazing poet Steve Scafidi about inspiration, William Faulkner, what it was like to hate poetry in high school, carpentry, and the future of humanity. You can listen to our conversation--and hear him read a poem--here:
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html
A short poem by Guillaume Apollinaire, translated by Patrick Herriges. (It's from "The Sea and the Honeycomb," an anthology of tiny poems edited by Robert Bly.) Ah may we give praise!
April 9, 2025 at 10:17 PM
A short poem by Guillaume Apollinaire, translated by Patrick Herriges. (It's from "The Sea and the Honeycomb," an anthology of tiny poems edited by Robert Bly.) Ah may we give praise!
Here's part four of what I am calling the "expanded Iliad," in which Zeus' wild daughter Helen at last enters the story. When you have a divine parent, are you likely to be quiet or rambunctious? Listen and find out...
www.jayleeming.com/the-iliad.html
www.jayleeming.com/the-iliad.html
April 2, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Here's part four of what I am calling the "expanded Iliad," in which Zeus' wild daughter Helen at last enters the story. When you have a divine parent, are you likely to be quiet or rambunctious? Listen and find out...
www.jayleeming.com/the-iliad.html
www.jayleeming.com/the-iliad.html