Write a poem inspired by a reference book.
What would happen if all the bees died?
I read today some species are already endangered
and if all workers ceased
every dependent organism would eventually decline too
I think this means us
We and our luxurious lifestyles
wouldn’t survive a famine
What would we do without Black Friday shopping and marshmallow and yam casserole for Thanksgiving
which are really sweet potatoes
but most of us don’t know the difference
we only eat what the worker bees grow
and the slaves called them yams back in the day
so it stuck with us
we don’t question
What would happen if all the bees died?
I wonder if we’d fall like Rome
and maybe January 1st would no longer be
the start but the end
maybe we’d no longer use the sun to measure our days
but turn to the moon for guidance instead
maybe then in the moon’s face we’d see
not a man
but the rabbit that helped the moon goddess in Chinese folklore
or the woman in the Samoan tale
who during famine asked the Moon to let her child take a bite out of him
or maybe we would see
the dead bees