Helping with the Bees
By jem
- 1746 reads
It's a hot day when I visit,
I swat bluebottles away
as I walk down the drive.
Lightening bugs, ladybirds.
You open the door slowly;
Skin loose, skull huge, voice slurred.
I hug your tiny, jutting bones
and feel you shiver in the heat.
The house is dark and solemn and desperate.
You shuffle away towards the kitchen
and your parents corner me anxiously in the hallway
'Do you know anything that can help?'
'Anything that can help at all?'
I don't.
We distract ourselves.
Your dad takes me to collect honey from the bees.
I watch them go drowsy with the smoke,
They crawl over my gloves,
Across the gauze in front of my face,
Then onto my hat,
Looking for a way in.
He pulls out the trays of honeycomb,
'Here's the queen' he points,
She sits unmoving, fat and powerful,
Her eggs jelly-like,
squashed into endless hexagons,
They will hatch, and then more will crawl and more will swarm.
We go in for lunch.
We eat the same portions as you:
a handful of salad and a slice of bread.
You chew each mouthful a hundred times,
and swallow with a dry mouth.
I am so hungry.
The room is hot and drowsy,
as if we have all flown somewhere else in our minds.
When I leave your dad gives me a jar of honey,
'To say thank you' he smiles weakly
and looks away,
'For helping with the bees.’
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Comments
There's a solemn style to
There's a solemn style to this and lots of beautiful images.Feels like a soft conversation, love all your re-tellings of visits with their nature/space focus and the parallel of the relationship running besides it. Her illness and your hunger is very suggestive of eating disorder but then I'm trying interpret it myself and should know better - it's not something one should do with somebody else's poetry. Anyway, very moving .
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So much in this jem. One to
So much in this jem. One to read and reread - Vera's right on the button with her praise.
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Very moving, love the
Very moving, love the comparison of the bees with her illness. Lovely images.
Lindy
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This is our Facebook and
This is our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day!
Get a great reading recommendation everyday!
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This is quite simply a
This is quite simply a wonderful gem jem. A complete and utter delight to read.
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lovely, jem, a wonderful
lovely, jem, a wonderful buzzing and vibrant world full of space to think.
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Congratulations
This is our joint poem of the week!
http://www.abctales.com/blog/scratch/story-poem-and-inspiration-point-we...
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