Junebug

I don't mean to make this anyone else's fault I don't mean to go back there but the bumblebee with the crooked wing in the parking lot roasting on the asphalt and I looked away you kept it in a takeout box with a leaf as shelter we opened a jar of honey from the cellar heard it pop, threatening the hot June air it melted and stuck to your bumblebee's legs I saw a monarch with its wings torn off stumbling towards the door my father pulled me toward the car and my mother said a prayer and i watched it through the rearview window the forsythia started blooming the day the bumblebee died we placed blossoms at its grave in the sandbox but I was relieved to be free of the pity we pulled apart dandelions and watched maggots swimming in the fluff we tossed them into piles that we threw into the air until someone told us to knock that off and go back inside that only left enough time for you to pick up a fat green caterpillar and gently place him in your pocket