Bees

Something I just found at the bottom of my wardrobe during The Great De-clutter of Summer 2010. It's very old and to be honest I'm not terribly pleased with it, but whilst I was in NZ in 2007, I became obsessed with bees and themes of bees, so it must be from around then.

Bombus hortorum

The humble bumble bee
is gentle and slow, drowsily collecting
pollen and nectar from
flowers which
drip, drip, drip as she drones.
Only The Queen and workers sting.

It seems a little unfinished to me, and also rather plodding and predictable. Humble Bumble is so overused in literature and poetry! I suppose the slow, plosive words mimic the content of the sentence and I can see I was attempting some form of visual metaphor of bees drifting from flower to flower in the layout of the stanza, but all in all it's a bit cringeworthy. I remember the first poem I ever wrote. It's paaaaaaainful to read over. It's like picking old scabs. I guess nobody is any good at anything first try, but still, it's humiliating looking at old work...