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Open Poetry #27
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Martie
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0 posted 2003-07-11 01:41 PM



It was spring
the virile weeds were,
sprinklered and green
the ground around, wet with holding,
wet with release.

I pulled my weight then,
thinking to make pretty
a dandelion I thanked,
how I love tenacity!  Yank!

Under, nested cozy in comrade buzz
the mighty force emerged
and caught me by my surprise
all packaged in a scream and dash for door.

There, in my hair,
all a curl and unkempt furl,
locked into place their fierce war,
my own barbed wire, fancy my horror,
beating me again and again
with my gardener whim.

My face, my eyes, my head the target,
they followed me in
to the kitchen faucet, inward bound,
my only thought to kill, to drown.

The prize fighter beaten, me,
swollen eyes just slits, can't see,
and the weeding only just begun,
now left to someone who has not been stung,

and I still watch with leery eye
for yellow jackets in nests, can fly.


© Copyright 2003 Martie Odell Ingebretsen - All Rights Reserved
Sunshine
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1 posted 2003-07-11 01:45 PM



ow ow ow ow...how can you see to type?
I've had my encounters with
our little jackets...
I learned to give them MORE than ample room....

wasps too....


Martie
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2 posted 2003-07-11 01:49 PM


Karilea...I can see because this didn't just happen, I've had time to unswell.  Thanks for the sympathy!  
Sunshine
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Listening to every heart
3 posted 2003-07-11 01:51 PM



Well dear, all I can say, is quit making me think things have just happened!  It's JUST the day for something just like this to occur...I mean, had you written it in winter, I would have said...aha...a memory....

but no, you had to go pick a very summery day for your pen to hold the jackets at bay!!!  LOL...

Ratleader
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4 posted 2003-07-11 01:52 PM


Yeow! So that's why bees give you the willies...and for somebody who loves to do gardening.....

I like this poem on all levels, except the one of literal reality -- anaphlactic shock is no joke.

~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>   ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>  ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº>    ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº>
______________Ratleader______________

LeeJ
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since 2003-06-19
Posts 13296

5 posted 2003-07-11 01:54 PM


eowwwww, Marti, I had bees, how dreadful this experience, but kept me on pins and needles the entire way through....
VAS
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-11-16
Posts 7450
Oregon
6 posted 2003-07-11 02:34 PM


oooh, talk about taking the cure for weeding, OUCH!

glad you're mended you poor dear thing

This is definitely a poem I WILL NOT share with my daughter...her fear is big enough.

Whether on the shoal or on the shore,
I'll seek the lighthouse evermore.

Goodknight
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since 2002-06-15
Posts 2386
Ohio, USA
7 posted 2003-07-11 02:34 PM


a powerfully descriptive write Martie - you capture the experience of being attacked and stung by yellow jackets prefectly - I for one am not a bee, wasp, yellow jacket, hornet, or any other stinging insect lover at all - Paul
scorpio
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since 2002-10-02
Posts 5178
right...there
8 posted 2003-07-11 02:44 PM


Yellow jackets have one rule..."Leave me alone!!"

believe in what your heart feels...

Bill Charles
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since 2000-07-11
Posts 10619
highways, & byways, for now
9 posted 2003-07-11 04:39 PM


Martie - they sure can fly, got into one of those nests, and they chased me running for over a mile. You OK?

BC

Martie
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California
10 posted 2003-07-11 04:41 PM


Bill...yep, I'm fine.  I just have to go to hospital if I ever get stung again, now I'm super sensitive and could go into shock.  Makes a good story, but was no fun while it was happening.
Enchantress
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since 2001-08-14
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Canada eh.
11 posted 2003-07-11 04:45 PM


Excellent write Martie..I could almost feel the sting in this one.
I usually talk to them or blow on them if they come near..
It's when you don't see one and grab it when weeding that they get you.
~Hugs, Nancy~

~If you haven't heard the sunset,
   you haven't been listening.~

suthern
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since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
12 posted 2003-07-11 05:09 PM


YeeeeOUCH! *S* I don't blame you for being leery after such an encounter! Those weeds had fierce protectors! *S*

I'm glad you're okay... you wrote this so well we all felt the sting. *S*

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