Analysis of "Swarm" by Jessica Traynor

 Poem Found Here:  "Swarm" by Jessica Traynor

After reading the poem a couple of time, I wondered what "Swarm" means.  Of course, there's the dictionary definition; however, even in reading the definition there's a negative connotation: swarm of locusts, swarm of meteors.  I think this poem plays with this negative connotation as the tone of the poem to form maybe empathy at the end.

The poem starts out with a command:

Search for them in the canopy,
among meadow grasses,

you won't spot them;
the thousands of bees

Even though the speaker asks the reader to search for something so numerous, this swarm, this thousands of bees is not able to be viewed by the reader.  There's a sort of mocking aspect of not being to see them as it seems so obvious to the speaker at how they change normal scenery to the surreal: "that unzip the air, / follow the day's weft, // that rip the silence like cloth."  Note how the descriptions of the bee comes in with an audio image of cloth -- something so domestic and relatable.  I feel this tries to pivot the connotation to a more relatable way so the reader can mourn the images of the next couple of lines.

"tug the tiny hairs on skin // with their ghost music-- / bees long dead, bees soon to die,"  This poem continues to play with sound from silence, to a rip, to music that is unheard but observed.  Just like the visual of the swarm, the images start to vanish "as the ladder of evolution / reaches its vanishing point."

What replaces them visually is an interesting group of flowers.  When I looked them up they all have different aspects to them.

They hide here
among birdsfoot trefoil,

purple vetch, self-heal,
among hemlock and nightshade

A part of me wonders if I needed to know what each type of flower represents, how to approach them as symbol:  birdsfoot trefoil -- an invasive species that bees never flock towards, purple vetch -- a flower that is used to reclaim burned or disturbed land, self-heal -- a plant used for medicine but is also known as a common weed, hemlock -- known to be a toxic plant, but also is part of the carrot family, and night shade which is known for it's poison but is also part of the family that produces tomatoes and potatoes.  

As symbol, there's a bit of positive with each plant (the exception seemingly birdsfoot trefoil) and even the negative aspects of the plant has positives where the family of plant produces food.   I'm probably missing something since these are practical symbols and I feel there's something more to it than this, but the focus should be on the bees and where are they now?

and they wait,
these phantom bees,

between the dusty pines
with those who have

nothing to fear;
the numberless dead.  

When reading these lines, the bees are ghosts of themselves.  I think this is firmly established; however, who are these bees with?  I feel the poem tries to go for a bigger point with the "numberless dead" and there may be a connection with the dead (vague but overwhelming number) and the plants, but I can only assume something left field like drug overdose and that could be my bias.  The bees, or lack of bees, takes center for me tough as I search for them and lose them through sound and sight and sight again.