Garden Walls, Sujin Lim

 

 

I think I’d like to keep bees—

however much bees can be ‘kept.’

Like a kept woman maybe

they could bring a sweet sharp pleasure

with a constant stretching, sensuous

ache of uncertainty.

So I’d need an orchard

where I could line their white boxes

under the branches knotted like

my mother’s knuckles,

thick from years of quiet work,

and I’d need a kitchen window

squared above a thick porcelain sink

where I could stand and watch them—

a hundred honeybees dragging

nectar from downy flowers,

nursing their children with liquid gold—

loving the light that

transforms ditches into long mirrors

strung out to reflect the clouds.

 

About the Author

Abigail Lee, University of Virginia

Abigail Lee is a poetry student at UVA, where she distracts herself from writing by baking copiously, reading voraciously, and listening to Christmas music every chance she gets.

About the Artist

Sujin Lim, Dartmouth College

A senior double majoring in economics and creative writing, Sujin Lim fell in love with photography at a rock show. She enjoys shooting live music and everyday people; she wishes to show the world what it really looks like.