Bees Poetry on the Way

This year my yard has even more wild flowers, but there seem to be even fewer bees.

What has gone wrong?

Maybe it’s the weather. Or perhaps it is neighborhood lawn care that emphasizes pesticides. Or it could be disease. There’s so much to think about with bees.

I admit, I have questions. I’m also intrigued by poetry that explores the intersection between our lives and the lives of the bees. Without bees, our lives would be… bereft. Of so many things. And I really wouldn’t want them to go the way of the passenger pigeon!

So I’m excited to talk with beekeeper and poet Sara Eddy, who will read from her mini-chap Tell the Bees on Friday, August 5, 7-8 pm ET.

That evening, in an online setting, you can join us for bees poetry and beekeeping chat.

Bring your questions. Bring your love of poetry. Bring your curiosity about bees—and maybe about re-wilding, too.

I can’t wait to share the evening with you!

Sign up here today. Spaces are limited.

Tell the Bees

Whisper to the workers
and they’ll bring the news to the queen.
When a beekeeper dies
someone is assigned to tell her
bees that she’s gone,
they shouldn’t expect
the scent of her skin,
the sound of her voice.
They need to know who
will look in on them.
Sometimes I do tell my ladies
about what will affect them:
it will be getting hotter
in the next few years.
I’ll give them water and sugar
to replace their losses,
but there will be new
parasites coming north.
I don’t know what I’ll do.
They don’t care, none of it
matters in a 3-week lifespan
in a world of nectar and pollen,
dearth and flow.
So I mostly keep it simple,
tell them everything
will be ok, you’re strong
and good; the cell walls are solid,
the queen will keep laying,
the magnet of the poles
will bring you home.

—Sara Eddy

Try It: Tell the Bees Poetry Prompt

While you wait for the event with Sara Eddy, try penning your own bees poetry. You could…

• write an ode to the bees
• ask the bees something
• tell the bees something
• write a poem from the viewpoint of the bees
• or anything else you dream up!

Featured photo by Krista Marson, via Unsplash.

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L.L. Barkat

L.L. Barkat is the Managing Editor of Tweetspeak Poetry and the author of six books for grown-ups and four for children, including the popular 'Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing.' Her poetry has appeared on the BBC and at NPR, VQR, and The Best American Poetry.

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