beelzebul
lord of the flies
I wonder if
that
extends to bees
insects
in general
and
we don’t do well with these
their foreignness
I guess
arthropodic armor
buzzing when
it’s not easy in the garden
and
then they bite and
they sting
and
when masses of these assemble
there is trouble
on soft flesh
and I wonder we don’t think
they’re always
angry
I’m drafting while debating
hoping for the bite
to go
away
sad shared surprise we both got up to
early in the morning
and by the way
to me and
you
we need these or we die
c l couch
photo by Ankith Choudhary on Unsplash
"Collecting Honey"
(x = space)
x
x
Killing a Bee
(that’s all)
x
Last night something happened
That hasn’t happened in a while
I was stung by a bee
It hurt
I blobbed on some ointment
On the spot,
Loosely wrapped it all,
Waited to find out what happened
Next
The last time I was stung didn’t go so well
The site swelled, and soon there was
A shot
(another
kind of sting)
I know, it is November
We weren’t outside
The finding of a bee (alive
the bee alive
I was alive)
Was a surprise
I discovered it while touching it
Picking it up, in fact,
Not knowing what it was
At first
(it was dark)
I doubt it was happy
And let me know
x
This morning, I found the bee
Where I had dropped it
When I touched it, well, it moved
And I killed it
Was it dying, anyway?
Did it let out a bee kind of scream?
Have I angered all its cousins, now?
Will they find me?
It’s an old place
There could be a colony, somewhere
I’d rather not have killed the bee
x
Now I think about
Going to church
Because it’s Sunday,
Church meeting day
As I type, the stinger still
Bites back,
A bit of pain from poison
And the barb
That I can’t see
Even though
It’s in my index finger
x
C L Couch
x
x
Was you ever bit by a dead bee?
I haven’t been
(all the bees so far
have been live)
I could be
Dead bees can hurt you
x
To Have and Have Not
(and my response)
x
x
Photo by Monica Valls on Unsplash
x
clcouch123 
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