1.
A Few Considerations
Maya C. Thompson
after United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals
I offer this dedication to our pollinators because the wind
does not labor alone. To the bumblebees underground
in abandoned mice burrows, I see you
single mother queens when you risk your lives to go
forage with the faith you will bring back enough food
so your children do not go hungry.
To the honeybee nurses that lose sleep often taking care of the brood.
Double shifts in the hive spent oozing royal jelly like breast milk
into the hexagon-shaped wax cells.
What tubular-tongued geniuses. Our codependency is no accident.
When you dice tomatoes on a maple cutting board
there is a bumblebee in a greenhouse that mastered the art
of shaking the plant anthers into fruit.
To the hoverflies no bigger than a fingernail,
you mimic the bee so well,
the wasp knows you are not to be messed with.
To the moths that clock in after midnight,
teach me your nocturnal song,
how to be dusk and nectar.
Because our pollination workforce is not limited
to those with wings, I thank those with tails.
The gecko that crawls on the island floor
as pollen glistens like a dash of turmeric on its nose.
The ruffed lemur’s pollen wisped on the muzzle and fur.
I invite you to walk the labyrinth. Enter the paved stone
and pause for a moment of gratitude at its center.
We are billions in one gigantic pollen basket
velcroed to the bee’s hind leg.
We Teach
We Try, We Try
We Triage the wounds

2.
Humanity, I inscribe our names in the clouds.
Watch it return in the rivers, in the lakes.
Humanity is an arboretum
forever planted by hope.