Beloved by Kathleen Powers-Vermaelen

A bumble bee hovers                         

above my bleached sill                                               

taken by a yellow                               

pencil resting there.                          

Silver wings humming,                     

she does a joyous dance                                

in rapturous worship                         

of its indifference.                                         

Her honeycomb love is

lacquered, jaundiced,                        

stiff, oblivious,                       

yet much adored.                   

It will never return                            

her blithe devotion                            

but when has this fact

stopped any of us?               

Previously published in The Southampton Review

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Kathleen Powers-Vermaelen’s poetry has appeared in The Southampton Review, Suffolk County Poetry Review, Bard’s Annual and other publications. She hold an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Literature from Stony Brook Southampton, and she teaches writing at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island.