POEM: be nice to bees

be nice to bees
(for Bonny Chen)

I don’t remember
much about bees
but I think it’s true
that when a bee stings
its stinger rips off
and it dies quickly
if that’s true
I don’t quite get it
it’s not a useful defense
if it’s fatal
so then I thought
maybe bees have stingers
to protect the group
not the individual
the defenders
sacrificing themselves
for the good of the hive
when this occurred to me
I started to feel
differently about bees

8 July 2013
Auburn AL

/ / /

[Photo Credit]