It [language] is the most compulsively collective, genetically programmed, species-specific, and autonomic of all the things we do, and we are infallible at it.–Lewis Thomas, Lives of a Cell

Bees trend in titles
drift from pages of bestsellers–
shuttling messages to the dead 
vibrating in veins like magic– 

we hum with them 
collectively aware
of their importance to survival

we feign to preserve them 
as kitsch we cricut on shirts 
camouflaging our own fragility–

even the dumb
too distracted to collect words
like grass catches dew
can wear a bee on their chest