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| Cartoon by Steve Sack |
Frankly, I am intimidated by the size,
the sounds of big black bees.
though experts say these loud, raucous
insects are not dangerous,
seldom sting, even if cornered in a hole
or near my seat on the pergola
where these Genus Xylocopa systematically
burrow deeper and deeper
into the cross pilings of my shady nook.
Yet when I glance up
from my book, see the pilfering pistons
drilling a shaft to lay
their dark and sinister eggs, I am dazzled,
and damned at the same time.
No Yin and Yang moral for me this May,
or in any month when
these bees egg on my impulse to swat
them down as though
they are a swarm of clever- tongued
bellicose Republicans bedazzling
the universe about Benghazi.
Earl J. Wilcox writes about aging, baseball, literary icons, politics, and southern culture. His work appears in more than two dozen journals; he is a regular contributor to TheNew Verse News. More of Earl's poetry appears at his blog, Writing by Earl.