My Daughter, Who Loves Bees

A poem by Letitia O'Hagan

loves things small

loves compact industry, efficient gold

packets strapped to

busy thighs

the bee crawling clumsily

from the pumpkin blossom

lurching into the air

haphazard with pollen

each stiff hair

itself bee-gold with grains

to be unpacked then tamped

in dim damp

six-walled cells

themselves tidily bee-sized.

She knows a man who knows a trick

that soothes the bees he says

you put a bee up to your mouth

and stroke its fur across your upper lip

she wants to try

at once a kiss

a sting

leaving a streak of gold.

Hear Letitia read her poem:

My Daughter, Who Loves Bees

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Letitia O’Hagan is a professional ritualist and amateur poet in Boise, Idaho. A founding member of Boise’s Log Cabin Literary Center, she has been reading and writing poetry for 53 years. She is inspired by the mundane moments in people’s lives that speak to and illustrate joy, sadness, longing, fulfilment, and mystery.