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more tales of venice beach

last summer
mid august
there were a lot of people
on the boardwalk for 9:15
on this beautiful saturday morning
i was just setting up my artwork
when suddenly this loose cloud of bees
the survivors from the fire dept.
spraying them out of a palm tree
on the bike path near the public bathrooms
the afternoon before
came buzzing around & round
in the middle of the boardwalk
people stopped to watch what was happening
a small crowd was soon gathered
everyone talking at once
about their theory or their trauma
chattering in ever increasing concern
& wonderment
like kids let out on a snowday...

as the bees sought to coalesce somewhere
an agitated scattered cloud
looking for a place to land...

i had a feeling they were honey bees
not that i'm an expert
i closed my eyes
began to chant under my breath
the "..hu..." mantra
[ pronounced just like the word ".. hue..",
i'm told it means: the light & sound of god]
i've found this tends to make most situations
resolve for the better
i pictured in my mind
where would be the best place
for the bees to form a new hive
away from all the people
that might remain undisturbed in the neighborhood
immediately i saw a place under these big old trees
on the unused corner of the dog park about a block away...

i open my eyes and see
the cloud of bees that had been working its way
from north to south down the boardwalk
had begun to land on the base of the palm tree
right next to my bike 10 feet away from me
and on an old wooden chair someone had left there
only since yesterday
as i'd seen it here & there
around the beach for the past few weeks
and now was fast becoming
the new home of a couple hundred bees
who i reasoned had probably lost their queen
to the fire dept. raid the day before
now needed to coalesce & create a new queen
to rebuild the hive...

while the energy of the bees was that of a heightened
agitation but not threatening
the reactions of all the people around
went from very distressed to panic
to wonderment and curiosity
'cuz you just don't see much wild life
but seagulls & pigeons round these parts...

it occurred to me
that when enough of the bees landed on the chair
that one could move the chair
& i said this to one of the other folks standing around
he said," you should do that .."
just the right encouragement
so i walked over in the midst
of all the humans hubbubbing
& slowly picked up the chair
with a couple hundred people watching
but instead of following my first vision
i just slowly walked it the thirty paces
to the top of the little hill there
& set it down thinking at least its off the boardwalk
& now the city of los angeles,
city of eighteen million people must surely
have some beekeeper people to come deal with stuff like this...

a little while later the fire dept. came with their big truck
they looked like boys from the playground
called to help get a cat out of a tree
a funny situation needing to be dealt with competently
i walked over to find out what they planned to do
i introduced myself as the person
who move the chair to the top of the hill
they said they wouldn't do anything but wait for
vector control [?]to arrive
i assumed vector control was the city bee keeper people
but a few moments latter
they asked me to move my stuff
it turned out so they could
back their engine into my space
to get get closer to the hill
turns out the commander of the fire engine decided
so they wouldn't have to be called again to deal with this
they would try to spray the bees on the chair
with this foam that would make it hard
for them to fly & they would die they said
so the big burly firemen hosed down the chair
knocking it over & leaving a big pile of foam in the grass
to melt away in the sun...

after they leave the parks & recs people
come & put three big green
55 gallon barrel garbage cans
in a wide triangle around the scene
of the bee massacre by foam
& rope it off with that yellow
police barrier caution tape..

& i feel like yuk
an accomplice
i wished that i had followed my first vision

then a few moments latter
a second chance:

when the parks & rec people deployed the garbage cans
they'd put them facing down
so no one could use then i guess
the bees that had still been airborne
when the massacre took place
had now coalesced on what i guessed
was some sugar left by dried soda or candy
on the side of the can set closest to the boardwalk

there were enough of them to be called a swarm
but their swarm covered over
the yellow police tape
i walked up there
carefully broke the police tape
in two places & tied a knot
while maintaining tension on it
so as not to disturb the remaining bees...

then i picked up the garbage can over my head
& slowly walked it down the hill
one block north on the boardwalk
then one block up towards the dogpark
i chanced to happen upon a friend
as i was walking up the middle of the street
carrying the can over my head
he looked at me kind strange
asked what are you doing
the bees were so quiet
i couldn't tell if they were still there
so i ask him
"..is there a whole lot of bees on the top of the garbage can.."
he takes a look
& kind of stunned says yeah...

i come to the top of the street
wait for the light to change
walk the can across the street to
the shaded canopy of the old trees
in a corner of the park
away from the dogs fenced in area
then set the can down ...

i went back to my stuff
continued setting up for the day
& heard more than one person mumble
something about "..the bee whisperer..."

now we come to the interesting part:

a little while later
bees started buzzing around
the base of that palm tree near my bike
& where the chair had been before i moved it
i guessed they we attracted by the remnants of
pheromones the hive had begun to put out
to tell them all to land on the chair initially
i guessed these latecomer bees
probably missed the drama of the massacre
& the move to the dogpark
& so i pictured a path of light & pheromones
leading from the spot at the base of the palm tree
to the garbage can i left in the dogpark
for them to find their way home...

well one of these bees flew right at my face
right between my eyes
in that instant i pictured the golden ribbon of light
leading to the rest of the hive in the dogpark
& the bee flew strait in that direction
literally making a beeline...

for the rest of the day
i repeated this visualization
whenever i saw bees buzzing around
the base of that palm
& they appeared to head off
in the direction of the dogpark...

few days latter i went up on the hill
& saw all the dead bee carcases
decaying into the grass...

a few days ago i went to do my daily headstand
in a patch of blooming clover
near the site of the incident
& there was a bee that looked like the same variety
harvesting clover nectar...

yesterday i drove by the dogpark
& that green garbage can is still there
a few yards from where i'd left it...