Sylvia, there is no square baby inside the box

The box is in a feverish state

a Japanese opera  inside

hustle and bustle

forty thousand  black

heart shaped faces

Noh and navigation dance

*

You watched  him plant the hive  

down by the parsley patch

something of the solid weight

the heft of a  child

crouched in your garden    

howl and wail

*

Put your ear to the hive  

they have got rid of the men

the furniture, the windows

In the golden chambers  

Sylvia      Sylvia

the honey has gone to your head

Note: This poem is a response to Sylvia Plath’s ‘ The arrival of the bee box.’

Frankie McMillan

Frankie McMillan is the author of The Bag Lady’s Picnic and other stories, and a poetry collection, Dressing for the Cannibals. In 2005 she was awarded the Creative NZ Todd Bursary. In 2008 and 2009 her work was selected for the Best NZ Fiction anthologies. Other awards include winner of the New Zealand Poetry Society International Competition (2009) and the NZ National Flash Fiction award (2013). In 2014 she held an Ursula Bethell writing residency at Canterbury University. Her next book of poetry, There Are No Horses in Heaven, is to be published by CUP in March, 2015.