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?