Craving Honey

Painting by Anita Endrezze

Craving Honey


Not the African bird, not the Honey Guide
who dives the honey badger,
or any human who comes near.
Not the bird who leads beasts
to the bee tree, and then begs for its share.

Not the bird calling "eat with me",
whose people, now forced from the bush,
ignore its cry in the rush of African suburbs.

No, not the bird, but the printed path,
the iris landing strip marked to show bees
right into the nectary, to drops
deep in throat-open flowers.

Not what we expected--that bees need a map.
Still our search for sweetness can go hard,
the signs often uncertain, the comb
when we find it, locked in a wax tough to crack.

Not what we always thought
that the blue flag unfurling meant to lure us
when all along the iris wanted only bees.

Not the bird, not the flower.
No mystic hint of what it is we want.
Only a line in print on furred petals.
Only the beeline.
Only what points the way to.


Heid E. Erdrich.....from The Mother Tongue