TO THE MURDER HORNETS I WANT TO SAY
I get it. Who among us hasn’t wanted to kill
the sweetest thing? Lick smoke
& nut from our teeth, then rush that hive
to take what’s ours, gorge
on sticky spoils? We are only rust-gold
& bright for so long, thorax
of wing & unclaimed sky. And we’re so
tired of sucking the sap, bark-
parched lips making due with
sugar scraps. And we’ve got
so many mouths to feed. They burrow
inside the dark of our bodies,
open their tiny, pincer-like jaws.
Who hasn’t felt that aching maw
begging more, more? And who
wouldn’t risk it—thick, winged
vibration, fire-heat of waxed abdomen—
to be the danger again, a threat,
red-hot harm burning alive
in the eye of the swarm.
Ja'net Danielo is the author of The Song of Our Disappearing, a winner of the Paper Nautilus 2020 Debut Series Chapbook Contest. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Radar Poetry, Mid-American Review, Gulf Stream, Frontier Poetry, and 2River View, among other journals. Originally from Queens, NY, she teaches at Cerritos College and lives in Long Beach, CA with her husband and her dog. You can find her at www.jdanielo.com.