STATE LINES

California Poetry

Nan Cohen has a cinematographer’s talent for framing an image. In “Bee 1,” her first shot focuses on a honeybee “dusted with pollen,/ pushing her head deeply/ into a white flower.” We think we’re watching a documentary until the next line reveals the speaker’s spiritual connection with the burrowing bee. Usually when a poet or filmmaker wishes to express a sense of transcendence, the chosen view is vast, like a vista or starry sky. But this poem frames a few inches of space until, near the end, Cohen pulls the lens back just enough to include the speaker in the frame while also restoring the natural intimacy between flower and bee.

Bee 1

A honeybee, dusted with pollen, pushing her head deeply into a white flower. Is me, pushing my head into this moment as if I could live in it forever. As if I could become, not just this — but the idea of — a white flower. As if I were, not just this — but the idea of — honeybee. As if I were not standing here, watching bee enter flower, flower enfold bee.

David Roderick is the co-founder of Left Margin LIT: A Home for the Literary Arts, in Berkeley. He is author of “Blue Colonial” and “The Americans.”

Nan Cohen is the author of “Unfinished City” and “Rope Bridge.” She lives in Los Angeles. “Bee 1” was published in “Unfinished City” (Gunpowder Press; 2017) and is reprinted with permission.