which leads people to the nests of wild bees
waiting while the hives are subdued with smoke, and
the honey stolen,
leaving stray larvae and pupae and wax for the bird
sometimes the greater honeyguide trills at a human
and leads them to an abrupt precipice, below which a beehive lives
it’s not that they’ve forgotten people can’t fly, they never knew in
the first place,
and don’t mean any harm, because, after all, it’s how to get
to the honey
and, thus far, no person has followed them down, taking the time
to look first
so it’s quite a thing in 2020 to turn on a TV and see crowds of
people without wings
spreading their arms and jumping, because people who know
they can’t fly,
being people themselves, have asked them to and there’s no
honey anywhere
there’s a bird that lives in Africa, the greater honeyguide
Kate LaDew live in Graham, North Carolina, with her cats Charlie Chaplin and Janis Joplin.