[Beard of Bees]

somewhere beneath       my jaw hides a queen sleeping her tender           buzz     hums     keep me awake I          buzz     pull out her children inspect their bodies          plump and still wings    gossamer thin I             buzz                 pluck them out too split forewing           from membrane my fingers chitin-sticky with     buzz     blood and honey I find shirts covered in buzz     dead bodies in my textbook

bowls of           buzz     soup my girl’s face as she looks up at me           sometimes just simple on my finger’s edge to     buzz    be inspired into flight sometimes replaced by thinner skins             white glossed or red                  buzz                 coated              buzz     others leave a    pale grave a        fleshy reminder a bald trench an open    buzz    gutter I will continue to massacre          buzz                 until I reach      the sleeping queen        wake    buzz     her       buzz                 up debuzzthrone           buzz her            buzzbuzz           pull her           buzz     out       and        buzzbanish       momentarily

quieting that                  forever-

buzz

 

 

 

 

Thomas Irvine is currently a student of the UEA Creative Writing Poetry MA but lives in Hertfordshire where he co-runs a spoken-word evening, ‘Shout or Whisper’. His poetry has previously been featured in The New Luciad and Miles To Go, and his twitter handle is @thomaseirvine1