Stings

“Stings” is the third in the series of four “bee poems” and in this poem, the speaker seems to be contemplating her existence, as well as her individuality. In the first verse, the speaker talks about handling the combs with her bare hands and she speaks about the throat of her wrist. I think that the combs represent her life and existence, and the baring of her bare wrist signifies how vulnerable she really is as no one really knows when accidents will happen, and the throats of their bare wrists will be slit open.

The second verse seems to focus on her existence  and the white teacup with pink flowers on it is in her hands, much like her life, and she is contemplating what to do with it.  In the third verse, she is terrified of the old cells as well as the fear of having bought wormy mahogany. The fossils hunt that people have been where she is at before, and that they have passed away. Once again she is thinking about her existence, and in the following verses, she makes the transition from contemplating her existence to thinking about her individuality as she does not want to become one of the fossils of shells.

The queen bee becomes an object of interest because without the queen bee, the hive is useless. I think that the queen bee stands for her purpose in life as she does not want her life to be purposeless, or for her purpose to be degraded.

The unmiraculous women that she speaks about are other women who do not dare to break the mold, and instead are content with their mundane lives. She does not want to become a “Honey-drudger” like them who have no purpose and are content with their lives being this way. Daring to break the mold has caused the speaker to live a somewhat lackluster existence, but she does not mind because she believes that she is making her own path through life even when she had to eat dust and dry plates with her hair. The speaker wonders if she will be hated for daring to be different and not wanting to conform to the standards and expectations that have been set for her.

In the seventh verse, the speaker seems to finally succumb to the pressure, and she becomes a drudger like the rest. In the tenth verse, the bees discover someone who had been an observer, and attack him. I think that this signifies the eccentricities of life how trouble can still find you even if you try to hide. When the speaker realizes this, she goes in search of her purpose, the queen bee which seems to be fleeing from her leaving her to remain a wax house without any purpose.