Five poems in "Connections"

Five of my poems were published in this collection of poetry. This is a poem inspired by a book called "The Bees" by Laline Paull. City Voices patron, playwright and actor Deborah McAndrew, wrote a foreword for the anthology and is by co-incidence a bee-keeper but what she made of this particular poem I have no idea! 

Forager bee

The flower has no say,
but calls to me begging to be raped.
It comes to no harm.
 
The hive depends on me.
Seeing the world in colours you’d like to see.
The outer spectrum.  
 
A gang of drones flex
their barbed legs and bragging rights.
The fate of princes.
 
Cold, shivering, distress.
Hugging myself, my sisters, pyramiding
to hold life together.
 
Nourish the nurseries,
defend the hive against treacherous
cousins, the wasp.  
 
Thrumming hive-song,
hard-wired to the queen, I dance.
Showing the pathways. 
©June Palmer