The Dancing Poets Of The Beehive Poem by Paul Hartal

Bees are dancing poets. Their scouts announce
the discovery of a new nectar source by performing
a dance on the honeycomb inside the hive.


This poetic communication in the abstract language
of the dance draws in the air a figure eight pattern.
The middle axis of the eight figure points
to the direction of the nectar in relation
to the direction of the sun.

The tempo of the dance and the bees' humming,
reveal the distance of the nectar.
The scouts usually also introduce a sample
of the nectar, which the workers can smell
and remember.


The bee colony is actually one single organism
with a collective mind.