Exquisite Consequences #1: Broken Honeycomb

Exquisite Consequences is a fortnightly game of literary tag, where the only rule is that each piece must begin with the last line of the work preceding it.

Broken Honeycomb
Axel-Nathaniel Rose

Wildbees hum warnings and sing their dis-ease

Honeycomb splinters and falls just like glitter

Childhood fantasies twist through shadowed trees

The scene’s stained with honey, golden and bitter

With wildflowers growing between the bones

Hair stays shining golden; skin’s regrowing and bare

Clean rain water falls into open hands

Lungs convulsing, ribs harden to the air

Ribbon through eyelet, I lace the corset

Shuddering breathing, clean breaths nonetheless

Piano tuned, voice falters at each step

The keys and my fingers know to transgress

Risk defines modulation – sharp to flat

To build to crescendo, to fall or to thrive

We play this role well. It doesn’t change that

chance, the stars, are all that keeps us alive

Chapters have ended, whole books have been closed

You see through this thin skin, my blood, my bones

It would be so easy but it’s still– no.

I will put my heart and time and breath

in what the bumblebees have told me.


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