Sarah Dickenson Snyder

The Beekeeper

Once a beekeeper placed a ladder
against the sturdy maple trunk,
climbed to the height of a cloud
of bees that had moved otherworldly
into our yard. He reached a gloved
hand into the quiver of darkness
and plucked the queen,
put her in a tiny cardboard box
he stashed into his back pocket
and climbed down.
Within an hour
the swarm melted
into air.

Now, too, my mind
returns from an unsettling.
I awake, look out the window
to the wavy line of mountain tops
seamed between sky and earth
and reach for the dream,
see the last bee leave.

Sarah Dickenson Snyder carves in stone & rides her bike. Travel opens her eyes. She has four poetry collections: The Human Contract (2017), Notes from a Nomad (nominated for the Massachusetts Book Awards 2018), With a Polaroid Camera (2019), and Now These Three Remain (nominated for the Massachusetts Book Awards 2023). Poems have been nominated for Best of Net and Pushcart Prizes. Work is in Rattle, Verse Daily, and RHINO. sarahdickensonsnyder.com @sarahdickensonsnyder