Oh, my blood sisters. Ask me,
I’ll bathe and jelly the queen.
Baby the grubs as my own.
Lonely no more. And work to be done:
filling myself with nectar, lining
the shelves with wax
like any stockgirl.
I’ll scout and scurry. I’ll stamp
my bare feet and waggle my belly
to spell for you the where
of the marigolds, the there of the thyme,
the now of the peony.
I’m strumming my wings
like a harp to show you how far to fly,
embroidering my amazement
to beebalm, to hedge, and to sage.
Our bodies a roar. A duty.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 25, Issue 2.
Wendy Drexler is a recipient of a 2022 artist fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her fourth collection, Notes from the Column of Memory, was published in September 2022 by Terrapin Books. Her poems have appeared in Barrow Street, J Journal, Nimrod, Pangyrus, Prairie Schooner, and The Threepenny Review, among others. She’s been the poet in residence at New Mission High School in Hyde Park, MA, since 2018, and is programming co-chair for the New England Poetry Club.
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