Birkwin Jersey
This arrived today:

“First of all, thank you for all the lovely words you say! I have found your poems such an inspiration, the detail in the observations and descriptions really makes me smile! I was wondering if it might be okay to use a sample of your poem from TedXEast last year in a song? I make music as Birkwin Jersey, and have a couple of releases on a DIY free label called Absent Fever. If it is okay with you I’d love to include it on the next release on AF – it would just be up for free on Bandcamp but thought it’d be nice to ask you first.”

This is one of the most polite emails I’ve ever gotten and obviously I’m thrilled about the entire situation. You should definitely check out Birkwin Jersey‘s other projects since they all look pretty sweet, and make sure to listen to the song that “Astronaut” inspired!