If you wish to attend the read around (t’s free, fun, a great way to share, and reading a poem is optional). Note: If you registered already, you do not need to register again, simply use the link sent to you in your confirmation email. Register Here:

Next Read-Around is 9/21/23 at 5:00 PM PST

How It Works:

  1. Read the poem 

  2. Do your own reflection on it, noting what it inspires in you

  3. Feel free to use your own reflection as your prompt or…

  4. Use the selection of prompts below

  5. Pick one that inspires you and write (feel free to use only one or write several poems using different prompts) or…

  6. Don’t use any of the provided prompts and follow your inspiration from wherever it comes

My Thoughts

Distribution of labor is one of the great advantages of a marriage or partnership. But it can also be the source of grief when either partner perceives the exchange is unfair. Even if agreed and performed, issues can arise if kitwas done poorly or begrudgingly. It’s easy, then, to lash out at the offender. Jacqueline Jules poem, The Honeybee, exemplifies a moment that puts the pettiness and stinging urge in perspective by bringing to mind the fate of the bumblebee. It dies a gruesome death once it uses its stinger. With that imagery in mind, the poet is then able to kick back and rest while her honey loads the dishwasher and scrubs every pot. Research shows that stinger comments, especially said in contempt, do kill relationships. I have some dear friends who really are the odd couple. She is compulsively neat and he is compulsively messy. Aside from separating some spaces between them—he gets the basement and the garage and a few choice in-house spots—she uses a mantra to stop at the almost point when triggered by saying: many good qualities. How do you maneuver from an almost outburst to resting in gratitude?

The Honeybee

I almost reacted. Almost
question how he could dare
complain about more pots to wash
when I cooked all afternoon.

Then I remembered the honey bee,
how it dies a gruesome death
when its stinger embeds
in human skin. The bee tears
a hole in its belly pulling out
the sac of venom.

A honeybee values peace.
It only stings when threatened,
not over something as petty
as who cooked and who cleaned up.

And certainly not when it could rest,
like I am right now, with feet
up on the couch, while my honey
loads the dishwasher
and scrubs every pot.

—Jacqueline Jules
http://www.jacquelinejules.com/mypoetry.htm

Prompt Ideas

  1. Journal or write a poem about the balance of chores in a relationship.

  2. Use Jules opening line, I almost reacted, as your prompt and write about a time when you held back a stinger comment.

  3. Jules uses the suicidal sting of the honeybee, which is reserved for dire circumstances, as a counterweight to the petty concern over who cooks and who cleans up. Journal write a poem about over reacting out of anger.

  4. What other insect or animal acts or facts might you remember when you feel triggered by your partner or something in life. 

  5. Journal or write a poem from the prompt, how could I (he, she, they) dare complain… when…

  6. In what way is complaining like a dare? What might make a complaint come across as a dare?

  7. Journal or write a poem about a time when your partner took care of some things while you rested.

  8. As usual, write about anything else in the poem or in life that inspires you.