Eastern Carpenter Bee · Old Carriage Trail
Whitehall Terrace
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by Sylvia Clark
Every year,
carpenter bees return
to their woodwork,
expanding the cracks
in the carport rafters,
like ice
to a stone,
like the pitted, filled cavities
of the rough quilt cement entrance.
But do the bees know wood
from what we rely on?
Do they not have their own constructions?
Do they know beam
from crucifix,
tree
from church?
Any good carpenter does.
But do they?
In actuality,
every carpenter bee is holy,
as holy as honey,
as holy as the lion's skull,
the carports like the emaciated remains
of a beast.
In this Rust Belt town,
carpenter bees are oxygen.
Truly,
within every pollination
lies the power
for inspiration,
and
with decay
in every baby's breath,
we carve
into what was never ours
to begin
with,
what we call home.
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Green DarnerMarion Boyer
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Eastern Screech-OwlDr. R. Ray Gehani
Spring PeeperBarbara Sabol
Eastern Carpenter BeeSylvia Clark
Jacob's LadderRisha Nicole
Candleflame LichenClara Britton
Eastern NewtElizabeth Ryan
American BullfrogLaura Grace Weldon
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