Volcano, Hawai’i
Dad and I are in his backyard.
A bee, docile in the cool morning damp,
rests in the palm of his open hand.
With a finger, Dad pets the bee tenderly.
As if supplicants, we lean over the bee.
I don’t know I’m allergic to bee stings.
Dad doesn’t know, either. How would we?
I watch, my wonder intact. Warmed,
the bee flies into sweet-scented blossoming day,
into all I don’t know.
Trigger the Adventure Bear
Andrew Shattuck McBride grew up in Volcano, Hawaiʻi, six miles from the summit of Kīla-uea volcano. Based in Washington State, he is co-editor of For Love of Orcas (Wandering Aengus, 2019). His work appears in Black Horse Review, Crab Creek Review, Empty Mir-ror, Floating Bridge Review, and Passager Journal.
