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.