Bee-utiful Bee Day

Today is World Bee Day. It's so good that they have a worldwide day of awareness. They had a crisis a few years back that was worrying. Fortunately, their being under threat brought about the eco-trend of wild-sowing; lots of stunningly beautiful meadows, full of bee-attracting wild flowers, appearing everywhere - along road sides, and central reservations. 

 

I wanted to celebrate the day by creating a blog-post meadow of bee-related material written by writers and poets. 

I already knew this poem by Plath, but had no idea how potent bees were as an image-metaphor in her work. 

               

I hadn't realized that Carol Ann Duffy had taken up the cause of the bee in her anthology:

I was very happy to win a jar of local honey a few years back, collected from the hives of our local area's Conservative Councillor, Robert Nemeth - I love that his little daughter, under 5 years old, Nancy Bee, has her own bee suit so she can help her daddy. I called him once to deal with a swarm that was clinging to the window-frame of a basement flat nearby. He makes an excellent bee-whisperer!