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Only one hive made itthrough this furious winterof subzeroes and wind chillbitter disputes andmarital strife; they werethe hardiest, I guess,the colony with a queenbent on survival,in mad love with her brood.After dividing and divisionswe agreed I’d keep the beesand move them down the roadto a friend’s garden: wildflowers,mulberry trees, peace.SoContinue Reading

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Yesterday afternoon The Fly followed me through my doorflying in with the wind because the wind flows with theconfidence of one who knows where to goI, too, follow the wind when I crave an adventurebut The Fly couldn’t have known that my homehas no treasure near, only disarray and disasterContinue Reading

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Sometimes, when no one is watching, the bees tire of their endless laboring and slip away into the beds of clovers to rest. At dusk, rabbits nuzzle them awake as they scrounge through the green, exercising their pastoral rights. Puzzled and drowsy, the bees scuttle into night like tourists inContinue Reading

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My grandmother was the first of us taken by hornets. Rumors had warned us, posters had warned us, even our own TVs: “They can chase a person a quarter of a mile,” “They kill 1,000 people a year,” “They have killed horses,” “They have killed elephants,” “Any given attacker willContinue Reading

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I’ve let the yard go.There’s still grass, yes, but bitby bit it steps aside for dandelionsand violets, creeping vineswith purple flowers, baby bluetsand buttercups. It is as if I’mallowing space for one smallflower per bee, inviting themto my yard for a drink.The neighbors whose lawn is perfect,who mow 3 timesContinue Reading

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Steven broke up with Kelly after she was stung by the bee. I can confirm this because I was there. According to Kelly’s version of the story, she broke up with Steven before the bee sting. I don’t know what I expected when I called her out on the discrepancy.Continue Reading

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If we put them in boxes, they will hold up better.No, they won’t be able to breathe.They aren’t breathing anyway.We need a stasis box. That way they won’t deteriorate any further.What do you think they do with these long extensions stuck to their shoulders?Do you think they could fly withContinue Reading

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The beekeeper knows that he is above other people because he is keeping a species alive which faces extinction. The beekeeper knows he is above other people because he is keeping a species alive with 20,000 variants. The beekeeper knows he is above other people because he is able toContinue Reading

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I leave them stores for the winter,gallons of honey and a thousandgolden pockets of pollengleaming in the dark of the hivenourishing the workersthrough the long cold.But then I take my due,the honey supers so heavymy knees begin to buckle.Sweetness is a heavy loadpulling at my gut. It’s easierto cut itContinue Reading

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Ronnie’s hair had grown flaxen in her old age. It blew and tangled in the breeze as she made it up the hill, wicker basket in one hand as she cupped the space above her brow with the other. One of her bees, a long way from home, crawled alongContinue Reading