| InterBoard Poetry Competition | |
MILOSOV’S BUMBLEBEES
Jim Zola
(WDS Writer’s Block)
Bats in the belfry, bats in the belfry.
The chant from children I don't see
rings outside my window. By night
the bat comes back, settles in
between screen and pane. I give it a name.
Who is the dictator of madness and not?
Who deems the incongruent muddled enough? I smile
when I ask. I had a wife and children once.
Bees fill a hole in my backyard,
their sudden home. One day it's safe,
the next they swarm. They sting the dog.
At dusk I sneak with gasoline,
boiling water. Smoke the fuckers out.
These are not gentle bumblebees.
Night by night I fill the hole.
Nothing around it is living.
But the bees survive. I stay inside.
I listen. The children are back.
I press my ear tight against glass.
What are they singing? A song for the end
of the world. There will be no other.
Judge Joan Houlihan's comment: “There is an undercurrent of tragedy and fatalism here that works perfectly with the imagery of the bees. Consistent voice and tone give its prophetic feel credibility. The last stanza is a killer.”
About the InterBoard Poetry Competition
Archive of IBPC Winners
3rd Place Winner, October 2001
