Marnie Ritchie is a writer and Assistant Professor of rhetoric. She holds an MA from Syracuse University and PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in Communication. Her poetry has been published in FIVE:2:ONE's #thesideshow, Juked Magazine, Yes Poetry, Burning House Press, Moon City Review, and Moist Poetry. She lives in Tacoma, WA with her cat Lenu. You can find her at mmritchie.com and on Twitter @marnieritchie.
A bee routes its horny flight
and I am envious—
I can see it doing its
pre-flight ritual,
in front of me
right here on the table
no doubt it senses
the close encounters
to come, soft on soft,
fuzz on fuzz, mmm,
and there it goes—
honey,
I have started turning
for three minutes
in the shower
before I come over
I pray you will attend
to my body
like nature over-stuffs
bee-haunches with pollen
and we will find the limits
to what it can carry