Caitlin Stobie

The hive is a giant

nose. See how communes sense

the queen’s elation:

that mystic history of honey.

Today I hum, yellow,

rehearing your laughter

waxing in carnation.

Because you know me

down to my peeled feet.

Because your lashes furl

in subtlety. I know

no utopia is

what it seems, but oh,

this sweetness smells clean

Caitlin Stobie is a PhD researcher at the University of Leeds whose poems have appeared in journals including uHlanga, The Kalahari Review, Aerodrome, New Coin and New Contrast. She has recently been shortlisted for the RædLeaf International Poetry Award and is co-editor of EPIZOOTICS!, a journal for the contemporary animal.