Wasp Honey by CL Bledsoe

The first rule in life is you’re going to get stung.

The question is whether you get the honey. 

You’ll be standing there, like a fool, regardless

of how much you meant it. The wasps meant

it too. Name anything that isn’t a metaphor

for love. Don’t say love, because none of us

will admit we believe in that. But we hope. 

She said she’d been smiling all week

when I told her how beautiful she looked

last night. I didn’t tell her I started drinking again

because it was the only way I could stay

alive. The problem with the past is it won’t

go away just because it’s over. You have to dig

a hole in the desert, beat it to death 

with the shovel, and kick the past in, still screaming. 

If I could see you, I’d say don’t call my name,

no matter how much I want to hear it.  

 Raised on a rice and catfish farm in eastern Arkansas, CL Bledsoe is the author of more than twenty-five books, including the poetry collections Riceland, Trashcans in Love, Grief Bacon, and his newest, The Bottle Episode, as well as his latest novels Goodbye, Mr. Lonely and The Saviors. Bledsoe co-writes the humor blog How to Even, with Michael Gushue located here: https://medium.com/@howtoeven His own blog, Not Another TV Dad, is located here: https://medium.com/@clbledsoe He’s been published in hundreds of journals, newspapers, and websites that you’ve probably never heard of. Bledsoe lives in northern Virginia with his daughter.