Yellow Jacket
Resilient defender,
protector,
aggressor
expertly guards
the paper gate
of his empress’ castle
with speed and toxin
while my right arm
burns.
– © 2014, Matt Forrest Esenwine
Why, yes, since you asked…this is based on a true story. >sigh< On a happier note, the wonderfully talented Irene Latham is our “substitute” host for Poetry Friday today, so please visit her blog, Live Your Poem, for all of today’s links, info, and of course, POETRY!
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Ouch! But you got a good poem from it, so maybe “No pain, no gain” applies? We have yellow jackets scaring the hummingbirds away from the feeder we offer them in our yard – those yellow jackets are greedy little things!
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Thanks, Julie – yes, they’re nasty, they’ll sting you and not think twice about it!
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Like your poem, though I hate yellow jackets. Had many an unhappy encounter with them in childhood.
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Back when I was a kid, there was nary a summer that I didn’t get stung at least once by a hornet or yellow jacket…doesn’t make them any more tolerable, though!
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There’s a lot to like in this poem, Matt– “the paper gate/
of his empress’ castle” mmmm… gorgeous description. The bad news is that it brings back memories of when me and my brother were chasing our dog through some bushes and ended up with about 20 stings each. Yowza.
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That’s more like a Mega-Yowza, or an Extreme-Yowza! 20 each?? Good thing you lived to tell the tale.
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I really love “the paper gate” — no fun to get stung. 😦 There is a book out called THE BEES by Laline Paull, in the voice of a bee… and there’s an encounter with wasps. Fascinating!
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Interesting! I’ve often wondered what God was thinking when He came up with wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets.
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Don’t know about the creator part, but they are important pollinators (not that that knowledge helps your arm hurt any less…) I love the image of guarding the paper gate–very nice.
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Thanks, Buffy. Thing is, God already designed some awesome pollinators – honeybees and bumblebees – neither of which sting you unless they feel threatened. I get the feeling yellow jackets sting simply for the sheer joy of it.
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Oooh … Sorry about the sting – but at least you got a poem out of it 🙂
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Thanks, Vikram! Silver linings and all that, you know…
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I love the surprise, although not so nice, at the end. Didn’t even occur to me until I read those words-great ending. Maybe I was surprised because I’ve never been stung. Sh-h, don’t tell the yellow jackets! Congrats on your good news today!
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Thanks, Linda! Consider yourself fortunate!
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Leave it to you, Matt, to turn a stinging experience into a poem! What a coincidence that a yellow jacket stung my little finger today! I think the buggers have a nest in the dirt in my flower pot. I am not feeling kindly toward them at the moment and don’t want to honor them with a poem, so it’s a good thing you did!
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Sorry to hear about your experience! I’m usually careful around them, but this one was in our empty watering can and apparently took issue with my attempt at filling it.
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“The paper gate
of his empress’ castle” — gorgeous, Matt, despite the sting.
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Thank you, Laura, I appreciate that!
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Yikes – there is much to admire in the hard working bee, but no getting around that awful sting.
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Bees I don’t mind…yellow jackets I can do without!
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That’s a gorgeous photograph to match your verse. Hope the sting didn’t hurt too much! 🙂
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Thanks, Myra. It was painful for the first day or so, but nothing I couldn’t live with. The itching that followed was almost as bad!
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Ouchie! Hope you are feeling better. Liked the phrase “the empress castle.”
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Thanks! Yep, doing fine now…and keeping eyes open. 😉
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Great poem! I too wrote a piece (prose) about wasps that was pub’d some years ago, after being stung. They deliver a big hurt for their size.
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