Mark Scrivener Poetry Blog No 78 Bees

BEES

           This short poem was written with a readership including younger readers in mind. If you read it aloud you may be able to sense a certain onomatopoeic quality of buzzing and humming (of course the words hum and buzz are themselves onomatopoeic) .

            It seems that bees are in trouble (see Wikipedia- Colony collapse disorder). There are many theories however a type of systematic pesticide introduced in the 90"s- neonicotinoids (a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine) are under suspicion. Neonicotinoids are used in the U.S. on about 95 percent of corn and canola crops, the majority of cotton, sorghum, and sugar beets and about half of all soybeans. They have been used on the vast majority of fruit and vegetables, including apples, cherries, peaches, oranges, berries, leafy greens, tomatoes, and potatoes, to cereal grains, rice, nuts, and wine grapes. Imidacloprid is possibly the most widely used insecticide, both within the neonicotinoids and in the worldwide market.

            Honey bees—wild and domestic—perform about 80 percent of all pollination worldwide. A single bee colony can pollinate 300 million flowers each day. Grains are primarily pollinated by the wind, but fruits, nuts and vegetables are pollinated by bees. (source Greenpeace).

              In March 2013, professional beekeepers and environmentalists jointly filed a lawsuit against the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for continuing to allow the use of neonicotinoids in the United States. The suit specifically asks for suspension of clothianidin and thiamethoxam. The lawsuit follows a dramatic die off of bees in the United States, with some beekeepers losing 50% of their hives. The EPA responded to the suit by issuing a report blaming the Varroa mite for the decline in bees and claiming the role of neonicotinoids in bee extinction has been overstated Source- Wikipedia.
            Draw your own conclusions but remember 2/3 of all the plant food you eat is pollinated by 
 insects.

photo by Jon Sullivan



                                      BEES

Through blazing sunshine's warming rays,

           On the summer breeze,

Through lazy day's hot, drowsy haze,

           Come the humming bees.

Their gazes trace the sun's sky place

            To guide them to sweet treasure;

As they go buzzing through day's space

            And run the hive-dance measure.

A lizard lies in lazy ease,

            Snoozing through the hours;

But round these blossoming lemon trees,

            These bees visit flowers.

Still busy, buzzing bees are coming,

           As a cloud around-

Surrounding blooms with golden humming:

            Honeycomb of sound.