AMANDA LAUGHTLAND

Amanda Laughtland lives in the suburbs of Seattle, Washington.
She is the author of Postcards to Box 464 (Bootstrap Press) and
runs her own small press called Teeny Tiny.

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Historically

The pharaoh was king of the bees
although the bees preferred

to be left alone. On Mt. Olympus
gods ate honey while on earth

Pythagoras studied geometry
in hexagonal comb. In fancy hives

or crumbling chimneys, bees are at home.








In Communication

Bees dance to share locations
of nectar, in distance from the hive,

in relation to the sun. Scientists
replaced the sun with a bulb

disrupting the bees' dance
until a small amount of blue sky

entered the experiment and the bees
could navigate, the hidden sun

resuming its tears which fall
to earth as honey and wax.








Apis Mellifera

From the Latin for honey-carrier,
from the Greek for healer,

bees may fly six hundred miles
if not squashed, sprayed with insecticide

eaten, or killed by disease. Worn-out
worker bees will die in about

six weeks and must quickly
be replaced if the colony will take

all the pollen and nectar of summer.








The Natural Ability to Relax

Bees aren't for me. I only imagine
opening the hive's wooden lid.
Everyone says I look calm
but ask my acupuncturist

what's held in my back. Leave bees
to Trish, who calmly extinguished
a fire spread from a candle
to a child's ponytail, the fire

out in seconds in Trish's bare hands.

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