“Propolis,” by Hannah Silverstein (Poetry ’21)

2021 poetry alum Hannah Silverstein was recently featured in Dialogist. Read an excerpt of Silverstein’s poem “Propolis” below:

Propolis

Honeybees Survived for Weeks Under Volcano Ash After Canary
Islands Eruption
—New York Times headline, 4 December 2021

We glued the pores of our city shut and ate
and ate—why not? Locked down, we gorged sweet stores,
we waggle-danced, and buzzed, and drank. The end
had come, the earth burped up cantankerous fumes,
florescent flames where lavender bloomed. Honey
glowed, it rivered bright, it flowed and sang,
and we sang, too, forgetting flight, forgetting
sky, and petal shades and anther-dust…

 

Read this poem in its entirety here: https://dialogist.org/poetry/2022-week-20-hannah-silverstein