Vespiary Breviary
Such fine paper, never to know the feel of ink
Closely guarded, with secrets never to be told
Chambered, holding more than words could convey
Delicate, while infused with hidden strength
Touched by wings, yet never meant to take flight
A message delivered with a sting far greater than any words
Pray the experience is a positive one
This poem is off prompt for Day 3 at napowrimo.net. I just couldn’t get into the challenge.
It’s an edit of something written in August 2020, two weeks after my bicycle injury. The memory of both is still pretty vivid. I could have sworn I posted it, but WordPress tells me otherwise. I guess I was so wrapped up in that that I never got around to posting this. As I stepped through the sliding door onto my deck, I passed through a spider web. Turning to brush the fibers from my face I watched as one long strand stretched and tugged at a wasp nest tucked under the eaves. Two wasps immediately took flight. In a split second, one of the wasps managed to sting both of my middle fingers as I waved my hand about to keep it from my head. A day later, I still couldn’t get my ring past the knuckle. Yes, the same hand that was swollen from my bicycle mishap two weeks earlier.
Image source: pestworld.org
~ Day 3 ~
rivrvlogr 
We have wasps here in Riverside county. I suppose they are everywhere. I have not been stung yet, but my brother has. I have very carefully trapped several inside the house. Some I released, others I killed. They are tough little buggers. Not at all like flies and mosquitos.
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Nasty little buggers.
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Wow, the double whammy of finger injury then stung by wasp. I’ve seen oldtimers (in videos) use scorpion stings to treat arthritis. Maybe the wasp was doing you a favor 😉 (Enough time has passed so you aren’t peeved by my comment, I hope.) I like the way you wove your poem, almost like a riddle.
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Thanks, Jazz. It was my first (two) stings in a while.
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Nice work, Ken. The prompt didn’t grab me, either. And I haven’t been stung since I was a kid, but i recall swelling up pretty good, so I’m sympathetic to your tale, and admiring your poem. .
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Thanks, Ron.
Besides bbeing two stings at the same time, it seemed liked a double whammy.
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Poetic mystery – with an ouch!
Glad you posted, hope the wasps have relocated further from your porch!
We have wasp issues every couple of years, usually in the picket fence near the garden – you don’t know they’re there until too late to stand up and step back away from them! I feel mean killing them, but that’s the only solution when their chosen space is in the middle of ours – they are not tameable, trainable.
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Thanks, Jazz. Hornets are the worst, I remember my father having to deal with their paper ball nests every year.
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so the wasp gave you the middle finger… sounds about right ~
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lol
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I still have a scar on my leg that swells and bothers me from time to time from a wasp sting. All I wanted to do was buy some flowers…(k)
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I guess they didn’t like your selection!
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Evidently not.
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The truth of it, I know this experience too well.
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I feel for you.
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🙂
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It sounds so painful, but you got a poem out the experiences.
At some point, I might create my own word deck or stash, but the directions and prompt seemed so rigid and involved.
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Thanks, Merril. And yes, my sentiments about the prompt, as well.
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You’re welcome. 😀
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