Beekeeping Cartoon in The New Yorker

To see the toon in question, simply turn to page 70 of the August 3, 2009 issue or go here.

"Bees and busy people."

Been reading the great & strange Philip Whalen lately, & encountered this gem on nature's simultaneities, which can best be enjoyed for its crackling sound effects & pools of meaning by reading aloud:

FOR ALBERT SAIJO

Fireweed now—
Burnt mountain day
Sunny crackle silence bracken
Huckleberry silver logs bears
Bees and busy people.

Rainy mountain years
Trees again—
Green gloom fern here
Moss duff sorrel
Deer sleep.

Tree fire people weed:
Bright and dark this mountain ground.


by Philip Whalen
(Zen poet &—can you tell?—college roommate of Gary Snyder)

Bonus Track: Whalen (center) with friends Ginsberg & Burroughs, way back when.

Shutterbug Salutes High Line

New York City's latest bee-friendly spot gets the royal treatment from New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham.

Cunningham's focus is people, not bugs, but if you visit the High Line on a sunny summery day, you'll see plenty of happy pollinators doing their thing.

Cunningham's unbridled enthusiasm reflects the true wonder of this thrilling addition to the city's psyche.
Photo: Jesse Chehak (See more pictures of the High Line.)

NYC Wildlife: Woodcut Prints by Lisa Studier

A friend has been making these delightful woodcut prints of wildlife found in New York City: bats, birds, butterflies, turtles, and others. Here's hoping she decides to try her hand at our urbane honeybees.