Solo Flight

In the silver silence of morning’s first rays,
she is woken  from the vastness of the double bed
by a bee munching her way
out of a nest
secreted in an air vent.

After a long winter spent
in a cocoon,
waiting for warmer weather
to eat herself free
from nesting cavities
plugged with grains of soil and nectar
to help them stick together,
she rests a while on the sill,
a glowing red flame,

and then flies,
humming,
out of the open window
solo.

Kim M. Russell, 2017

Solo Flight

Image found on Pinterest

My poem for dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Poems that could save your life and linked to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Tuesday Platform

Today I am hosting Tuesday Poetics. It is based on an anthology that sits on my bookshelf, entitled 101 Poems That Could Save Your Life: An Anthology of Emotional First Aid. It’s a great little book that has been very useful on a number of occasions when I’ve been looking for the right words.

The foreword on the inside cover will give you a good idea of what’s in it:

‘Prozac has side effects, drink gives you hangovers, therapy’s too expensive; for a quick and effective relief for all your emotional ailments try a poem – for however bad it is some poet will have been there too.

This is the first poetry anthology designed for the self-help generation. Look up your problem in the emotional index, which has entries ranging from ‘Bad Hair Day’ to ‘Is This Relationship Going Anywhere?’, ‘First Wrinkle’ to ‘Bereavement, ‘Career Crisis’ to ‘Redundancy’ and a whole section of ‘Instant Moral Fibre’. The prescribed poems include classics by Emily Dickinson and Lord Byron and previously unpublished works by contemporary poets like Wendy Cope. The book has a cure or at least a consolation for every modern misery, and no side effects.’ 

In the prompt I have shared two of my favourite poems from the anthology and challenged poets to write a poem to save someone’s life on one of a selection of themes, mostly taken from the book. For my poem I have chosen the theme ‘successfully single’.

59 thoughts on “Solo Flight”

  5. I have just now realised that I never think of bees emerging from the pupae – and you have captured the moment with a naturalist’s eye for detail. Wonderful image of Spring.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Kerry. I’m very concerned about the declining bee population as they are so important for pollination. I enjoy watching them in our garden because everything is untamed, so they have a variety of pollen.

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  6. What an excellent poem! I love these sections:

    “plugged with grains of soil and nectar
    to help them stick together,
    she rests a while on the sill,
    a glowing red flame,
    and then flies,
    humming”

    “In the silver silence of morning’s first rays,
    she is woken from the vastness of the double bed
    by a bee munching her way”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you! I’ve been watching bees quite a lot lately – they love our wild garden, especially the honeysuckle, and I’ve been concerned at all the stories about the declining bee population. I was knocked out to see that in London people are keeping bees on the roofs of high-rise buildings!

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      1. Oh, that’s awesome! 🙂 I would love to keep bees. The father of a gal pal from elementary school used to have bees. There is nothing yummier than drinking honey straight out of the comb, then gnawing on it a little bit. What I wouldn’t give to have a jar of that stuff right now.

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  10. Wow..unlike the short life of a butterfly, a bee can get a lot done before it checks out; lovely metaphor–hum while you fly, lopsided at first, as wings are not fully dry or coordinated. Our new neighbor keeps bees, and it is fun to watch them at a safe distance,

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    2. I’ve been watching them too – they love the honeysuckle on the trellis right outside the window next to my laptop, so I have a clear view!

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  22. I read and reread this poem several times because it’s rhythm felt good to me. I like how it sounds as if it’s going to be about a woman and her missing lover (vast double bed implying empty) but ends up about one of my favourite creatures. Really enjoyed the ending, especially the pause on the window sill before it leaves. One of my favourites of yours Kim! 😊

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    1. Thank you, Xenia! I hope your week is going well,. I am just about to start marking GCSE exams so I won’t write much over the next few weeks, which will be weird. I will, however, host the final Quadrille on 19th June. As soon as the summer break starts, the marking will be over and will be at a loss, with no dVerse for two week. 😦

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      1. Thank you Kim, it has been a very busy week so far and I am looking forward to some writing time over the weekend. Good luck with your exam marking and I am sure your muse will be waiting when you are free to write again! ;o) xxx

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    1. Thank you, Sreeja! It’s been a long time since I had to do that – I’ve been happily married for almost 25 years now. But I do remember the feeling of being in command.

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