Hive
Max Heinegg
— That which is not good for the beehive
cannot be good for the bees. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
We defy the rule of change
beneath the same imperious skies
Aristotle once took our queen
for a king- thinking we lifted our sons
& daughters from the same flowers.
The philosopher’s dust, but the hive stows on,
as you court monoculture, we are more
& more our brothers’ coroners. Absence
reminds all that must be kissed to kiss back:
almond, coriander, apricot. The wind will
remember us as pollen’s porters, clever
guests who saved, sip by dram, to pour the last
in a trembling of wax. Our workers’ royal
jellies stuffing every little one’s room with fuel,
teeming winter’s sleepy hexagons of sage,
fireweed, basswood- tastes the earth gave us
six weeks wings enough for wings,
bows rosined up by the sun.
Max Heinegg’s poems have been nominated for Best of the Net and The Pushcart Prize. He has been a finalist for the poetry prizes of Crab Creek Review, December Magazine, Cultural Weekly, Cutthroat, Rougarou, Asheville Poetry Review, and the Nazim Hikmet prize. Additionally, he is a singer-songwriter and recording artist whose records can be heard at www.maxheinegg.com. He lives and teaches English in the public schools of Medford, MA.