spring tableau
nectar-drunk bush bees
drone amongst
sun-warm crocus
cheeks powdered
eyes round with desire
nuzzling between velvet folds
emerging buzzed and rumpled
pollen-laden legs dangling
in the perfumed air
an assassin fly spears
his mark mid-flight
ferrying him to the back fence
honey stripes quivering
in the spring sunlight
life draining quickly
the end justifying the means
rendering the scene
no less obscene
it is the last minute
of his last day
but he died with
a belly full of nectar
Anne Casey’s poetry features internationally in newspapers, journals, magazines and anthologies. Her debut poetry collection, where the lost things go, was published by Salmon Poetry in July 2017. She was short-listed for the Cúirt International Poetry Prize and Eyewear Poetry Prize in 2017 and the Bangor Annual Poetry Competition in 2016. Anne is Co-Editor of Other Terrain and Backstory literary journals.