Thank you Bombus vosenenskii
with your yellow cap and tail
for pollinating the wild thistle
on Columbia River trails.
Thank you Bombus vosenenskii,
for flying up and down the West Coast
of these Un-united states, not caring
where state boundaries begin and end
taking nectar with a tiny probiscus
folded under your head in flight.
You bend into the explosion of blooms
to probe with the delicacy
of an artist. You navigate and buzz
in a rhythm that shakes pollen
from your body. Your leg pockets
fill with gold to store, should you ever
be quarantined and the stores
of nectar dry up.
Did you see this coming, or
are you always prepared?
-Poem by Mellisa Madenski
-Photo by Hallie Madenski
Melissa Madenski has published poems and essays in magazines and anthologies, and a chapbook (Finishing Line Press) titled Endurance. She collaborates with her daughter on her website “My Photos, Her Poems” https://hallieandmelissamadenski.wordpress.com/2020/04/
This submission is paired with her daughter’s photo submitted as “Thistle and Bee.”
Hallie Madenski is a Pacific NW resident where she photographs images of insects, animals and bodies of water. Her website is “My photos, Her Poems” where she and her mother collaborate on poems and photos.
https://hallieandmelissamadenski.wordpress.com