The Queen has died. The Royal Beekeeper
has visited the bees and put them
into mourning. I want to knock on a hive,
tell the bees my mother’s heart
needed repair. She is my monarch.
I got lost in Mount Auburn Cemetery
trying to pass the hours of her surgery,
followed Elder Path as if it led to my ancestors.
On another avenue, under a thick-limbed willow,
I tried to understand the carved letters—
what they said, how people could have
taken knives to bark and dug in,
adding their names as if the trunk were theirs.
I will apologize to the trees.
I, too, am a keeper. Have counted on nectar,
expected continuous honey.
I will tell the bees I am sorry
we don’t protect them, as they protect
their queen. I will apologize to my mother
for not loving our Mother as well as I should.
I will do as I am told. I will lean into the end-
of-summer goldenrod, and listen.
This poem first appeared in On the Seawall (2023).
—
Rebecca Hart Olander’s poetry and collaborative visual and written work has appeared in print, online, and in multiple anthologies. A winner of the Women’s National Book Association Poetry Award, her books include Dressing the Wounds (dancing girl press, 2019) and Uncertain Acrobats (CavanKerry Press, 2021), named an Eric Hoffer Book Award Category Finalist and a Must-Read selection by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Rebecca is a writing teacher and the editor/director of Perugia Press.
