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April, 2009

  • Poet Kimiko Hahn on the Voyage Home

    Listen above or download. Running time: 6 minutes, 8 seconds.

    Poet Kimiko Hahn recites her poem "Bumblebees" and talks with Zachary Sussman about her fascination with insects and the difference between quiescence, acquiescence, and simple stupidity.

    Bumblebees

    The foraging bee that doesn't make it
    back to the hive

    and companion warmth
    fastens to a leaf.

    Bumbling-bees?

    Or does the nectar so distract

    it forgets the cells
    called home?

    The lapse is a cause for concern
    the entomologist reports --

    because its tiny body slows to the stillness of dew.
    Is that quiescence

    or acquiescence?

    Or simple stupidity
    one always forgets a day later?



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