Resorting to the old work-bag this evening (... after a hard day starting to sort through Mum's stuff!!) and returning to a favourite theme... K xx
WORKER QUEEN
Fire-blind but sun-sensitive,
with five lidless eyes
I do not sleep,
seeing only fields
of ultra-violet light.
I inhabit ordered space
of geometric sweetness:
cells of nectar, watery fluid,
held in workers’ honey stomachs;
fanned, stilled and sealed
building heavy comb
of sticky amber richness –
feeding, protecting, healing;
swaddling like a second skin.
Gorging mouth and belly
on pounds of nature-scented sugars,
I gather energy to take flight
on translucent paper sails…
The bumble bee’s hooped body
is not designed to fly
but it is she who is poetic:
her wings like words –
short, inadequate, ephemeral –
lift her beautifully awkward,
yet somehow she lands
with molten grace,
her leisure seeming effortless.
The last 2 verses so profoundly written I was rendered speechless AND thoughtless... except for the complete submersion into these lines. You took an otherwise blabby woman and rendered her speechless, in awe of what you can do with the same words I'm familiar with, but have never put together quite this way.
Here's my question, me lovely: do you have 4 heads? Were you issued 12 brains at birth, or did you find 7 or 8 really good, used ones at flea markets? say, oh, Keats? cummings? BILL, himself???
Phew! This is waaaaaaaay down deep, I'm tellin' you! I'm keepin' it... I have to! (smile) Keeled-over katy xoxox
There is Zen wisdom in this poem, Kate. Accepting our burdens as blessings makes them much easier and nicer to get through. It is in the not having a job to do, that we lose our sense of purpose and life becomes an empty space of unfulfilling motions. True that the bumble should never be able to fly, but somehow as she yaws, like an Old Spanish Galleon through heavy swells and high winds, she finds a way to keep herself airborne. Working our way through things that we are not sure we can master, reward us in many ways. Once we try, even failure itself will become a reason to try again. Wonderful work, Kate.
Take care,
Sherry
very effective metaphor ... the elegance of action depends upon its ability to appear as being effortless ... "geometic sweetness" is a fantastic image to the multilayered beauty of perception ... the quintesstential element to this poem is that of composing a poem ... the rewards, like honey ...
Beautifullly imagined and described with such great adjectives that the lady (Queen Bee) actually takes on her own human like personality. Sweet Kate when you do a nature write you make it so special that it captures the mind completely with the possibilities that are presented. Well done my lady friend.
Hugs
Felix
That's you all over, molten grace, your leisure seeming effortless. Dang, I wish I could write like this. You make a poem of honey any bee would be grateful to visit. I know I am. :) Worker Queen, I bow before you.
Where do they come from? Those words, which dlow from your pen like honey (I know), and the activity and scene painted with seemingly effortless reaching for just the right words, and finding them as they write themselves into another gem. - Bill
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Birgit and Roger
Love you, Kate.
Regis
love and peace, Carole
The last 2 verses so profoundly written I was rendered speechless AND thoughtless... except for the complete submersion into these lines. You took an otherwise blabby woman and rendered her speechless, in awe of what you can do with the same words I'm familiar with, but have never put together quite this way.
Here's my question, me lovely: do you have 4 heads? Were you issued 12 brains at birth, or did you find 7 or 8 really good, used ones at flea markets? say, oh, Keats? cummings? BILL, himself???
Phew! This is waaaaaaaay down deep, I'm tellin' you! I'm keepin' it... I have to! (smile) Keeled-over katy xoxox
is not designed to fly
but it is she who is poetic:
Please send this to The Lad!
What happened to Andy did Michelle hi-jacked him???
Love Tinka
Take care,
Sherry
Hugs
Felix
Eileen
(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in America, Karen Lynn in Texas. :)
That's you all over, molten grace, your leisure seeming effortless. Dang, I wish I could write like this. You make a poem of honey any bee would be grateful to visit. I know I am. :) Worker Queen, I bow before you.
(((((HUGS))))) and love, Karla.
Lin
((( Hugs And Love, JoAnne )))
A very descriptive and visual offering you grace us with tonight..
You are beginning to fire on all cylinders again I sense...
Peter
Susan