Thursday 7 June 2012

Bumble by De Jackson

My son says the honeybees are dying. 
Some of those fat fuzzy fancy-free meandering ones, too. 
They’re getting sick, he says, voice thick with sadness.
I am not entirely up on these things. I assume
we have once again dusted our crops with poison or
overfilled one too many dumps or finally hair sprayed
our world into submission. Maybe they took one look
at our selfish hearts and their own simply stopped
beating. My boy is 9, loves all living things. I want to
tell him it will all be okay, that there are swarms
of scientists whose entire job it is to figure this out,
that he can be one of them someday if he wants
to, that surely someone, someday will find the cure
for our acute case of narcissism. I do tell him these
things, even as I wonder when the ‘birds and bees’
talk came to include such words as endangered and
extinct. And even as I taste the words on my own
tired tongue,
                   I hope to God I’m not lying. 


De Jackson, Nevada, USA

8 comments:

Angel Zapata said...

I like this a lot. It's amazing how much we as parents learn about ourselves when addressing the concerns of our children.

Linda H. said...

Oh, yes, De Jackson. I love the honesty of your ending. This poems captures the essence of so much--childhood and parenting, environmental care and ignorance, concern and love.

My daughter (a bat lover) worries about white nose syndrome and the negative thoughts people have about bats, so I can relate to this poem very much.

Linda G. Hatton said...

I love how this took me through a whole range of emotions. The sweetness of your son, sadness at the actions of mankind, and the bittersweet feeling from your words at the end. I love your poetry!

Laurie Kolp said...

Lovely, strong piece, De... I especially like:

surely someone, someday will find the cure
for our acute case of narcissism.

PSC said...

Oh yes! LOVE this piece -- so honest, simple, sincere. Acute narcissism, indeed.

Dr. Pearl Ketover Prilik (PKP) said...

De .... oh De... can certainly understand why this poem was selected - just wonderful from from first to last line - subtle and strong an impossible coupling and yet powerfully executed in a truly beautiful poem :)

Atta Rehman said...

When one conceives the issue at hand, i have to agree with your endings. You intelligibly show cognition about this topic and i have much to learn after reading your post.Lot's of greetings and i will come back for any further updates.
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Unknown said...

Wow ... what a haunting poem! There is so much potentially gained and potentially lost in these lines. Truly, truly, moving. Thank you, De!