The Bees Have Not Yet Left
(Feb. 28, 2008)
I woke to the music of your coffee spoon on ceramic
stirring the last of the wildflower honey into a cup.
But with a click, morning news began to pour heavy
into the bedroom, the anchor’s voices too measured
& smooth for the tangled math of troop build-ups,
Senate votes & death tolls they kept listing endlessly.
Forgive me, distant wars, local mothers & fathers,
but I could not listen or embed myself. Instead, I
sneaked out the back door down to the boardwalk
& picked hyacinths on fire & violet in rising light.
I placed them in last night’s water glass as if this
one act could save a life or suddenly erase reports
of whole colonies of bees lost on the wrong roads
between phone signals. If apocalypse ever shows up,
I thought, let us then eat ashen bread & tubers.
Because I refused to watch another second tick by
wasted while you were waiting for me at the table
with dishes of fresh blueberries buried in cream,
I flipped off the TV, threw open all the windows
& focused only on feeling the familiar, salted breeze
filtering lazily in from Humboldt Bay & trembling
the petals of the hyacinths I held out to you until
their pollen scattered golden before us, this dust
filling the air we are all still breathing together.
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Open Celtic Music Session
music / 3 p.m. Cafe Veritas/Mosgo's, 180 Westwood Center, Arcata. Informal monthly gathering of musicians playing Irish and other Celtic music. Hosted by Seabury Gould. seaburygould.com. 845-8167.
Nonviolence Action Camp
etc. / 10 a.m. Chinmaya Mission near Piercy. Weekend-long direct action orientation features workshops, role playing, seminars, ceremonies and field trips. Bring food, bedding, warm clothes, signs, banners, bikes, drums, acoustic instruments. Pre-register. saverichardsongrove.org. 932-5898.
Audubon Society Field Trip
outdoors / 9 a.m. Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, 1020 Ranch Road, Loleta. Meet at Refuge Visitor Center off Hookton Road. Leisurely, two- to three-hour trip intended for people wanting to learn birds of Humboldt Bay area. 822-3613.
Look Back in Anger Matinee
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