25 Comments

“wild half-bitter sweetness “

Such a taste! Perfect word picture to finish your somewhat sad poem.

As I was reading, I imagined the swarm finding a hive-healthy place near clover.

Loved your bee-worthy poem and your VOICE .

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Bee-worthy! A high accolade.

Thank you for your loving and attentive reading, sister Looocinda. 😘

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You would not think, after reading it, that someone 27 had wrote it. It's a older person's poem but you probably were old young and now young old. Best way to go.

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Definitely the best way to go, Wes. Thanks so much.

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And here we are today, with a good part of the world cleaning everything to a fare-thee-well and absolutely mindless of our dependency on bees for a major portion of the food we eat. To say nothing of the flowers we say we love. I like the way this poem grabs us and gives power to the bees. Well done!

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Thanks for reading, Sandy - I'm glad the poem spoke to you.

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Oh, these lines,

"...sent it in vats to the places that feed

orphans and poets, who live by gratitude."

And yes, that kind of recollection at 27. Prophetic? Prescient?

Wise beyond your years.

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Imaginative beyond my years, at least. Grateful to the oddly-kept young person I was at 27, for listening closely enough to catch that poem. And grateful to you for reading, Jody - thank you.

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This is special, unique, wonderful.

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So glad you've found it so! Thank you for reading.

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Wow! I love this! I like to think the image of the bees, those she kept for so many years, when they rose and swarmed away, they took her spirit with them. Unlike those who tried to clean up her life after she was gone and wipe the essence of her away. Well done!

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Yes, this!!! And thank you, Rose. ❤️

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Poets write some very deep work in their youth. Thank you for sharing this, and writing it at 27 years old. It is a gift. I enjoyed listening to you read as well.

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Poets (and some others) can have a depth of imagination well in advance of their own understanding sometimes. Thanks so much for reading, Pamela.

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Absolutely. I wrote some very deep stuff when I was young.

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Beautiful and thoughtful. Insightful for someone of only 27 years old. I love listening to you read your poems. I think that something special happens to a poem when it is read aloud and your voice is lovely.

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Thank you so much, Maureen -- so glad the poem spoke to you. To me, my recorded voice sounds like a nine-year-old who's up past her bedtime 🤣 but I know other people hear it differently.

And I agree with you that poems gain something special when they're read aloud. I read each poem aloud over and over when I'm working on it -- each one needs to sound right when spoken as well as "sounding" right when read.

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Really lovely. Thanks for sharing.

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Thanks so much for reading, Tara.

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Tell 27-year-old you well done.

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I shall, thank you Mathew. She was an oddly-kept young person, but she had her moments. Still does.

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The word elegaic comes to mind-

not necessarily as a reply to what you cannot name, but as a word the poem evoked in me

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A lovely evocation, Shari. Thanks for sharing it.

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Love this. Saving this one to read slowly later!

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Thanks so much, Brian. One of the lovely things about poems is how well they keep!

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