Keeping bees offers a window into living restoratively on the edge of a destabilizing world.

Emerging science shows vast interconnection between all living things and the planet itself.

Humans are not invaders: We are a part of ecological communities and can choose our behaviors within it.

We cannot change the past, but we can set a plan and choose our actions going forward.

When I came across Susan Cormier's new book Dead Bees Still Sing, I was expecting a memoir of beekeeping. It is so much more!

In the tradition of Henry Beston's Outermost House, Cormier gives us a beautiful rite of passage in book form. With the fine care of a poet and the nuanced wisdom of an ecologist living in harmony with—rather than domination of—the natural world, her meditation is transformative.

And as with Christina Rivera's My Oceans, Dead Bees Still Sing shines light into how we can "be" (in this case, "bee"!) in right relationship with our rapidly changing planet.

Rachel Clark: You have a way of writing about bees that sometimes seems more bee than human. Could you tell us how you arrived at this capacity?

Susan Cormier: Our cognitive development is affected by the experiences and pastimes of our childhood and teen years. I started writing poetry and songs as a child; as a result, my approach to the use of words is rooted in music and literary devices such as imagery, metaphor, and sound. Most animals including bees aren't "talkers" that communicate in spoken words; they’re dancers, singers, musicians, and dramatic theatrical actors.

The repeating metaphor of a bee colony behaving like a galaxy........

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