Ultraviolet Nectar (Bee Jazz)

Do you know
bees’ wings go
fifteen thousand
times a minute?
But who’s counting?
(Scientists). Two-
hundred-fifty
beats every second
(one-thousand-one).
Five-hundred-
twenty-five cycle
waves per second
makes a Middle C,
string bass singing
scat with the voice
whose fingers pluck
and press and slide.
How far our wings
and eyes take us, in
the distance between
our current hive and
this glowing field.

Did you know
bees can see
ultraviolet light?
And, that flowers
reflect ultraviolet
light from the centers
of their blossoms
just to attract bees
to spread their pollen?
Just so, the trumpet
competes with saxophone
and buzzing bass, their
sonic undulations
sending the audience
into the bell of
the horn, the body of
the stringed instrument.
And now, in this
coming hibernation
death of flowers’
ultraviolet beckonings,
we devour the honey we make.

  ----Michael Knisely