#PoetryBreak: Hive

Untitled (M.A. Reilly)

Hive 

 - Kevin Young


The honey bees’ exile 
     is almost complete. 
You can carry 

them from hive 
     to hive, the child thought 
& that is what 

he tried, walking 
     with them thronging 
between his pressed palms. 

Let him be right. 
     Let the gods look away 
as always. Let this boy 

who carries the entire 
     actual, whirring 
world in his calm 

unwashed hands, 
     barely walking, bear 
us all there 

buzzing, unstung.



From: Young, Kevin. (2018). Brown: Poems. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.