by Paula R. Hilton

How do you get the stinger out
when you’re mad for the bee?
Its venom should make you shout.
How do you get the stinger out,
without beating yourself up about
no longer wanting to be free?
How do you get the stinger out
when you’re mad for the bee?

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Paula R. Hilton explores the immediacy of memory and how our most important relationships define us. Her work has appeared in The Sunlight Press, ONE ART: a journal of poetry, Feminine Collective, Ink Sweat & Tears, and elsewhere. She earned an MFA from the University of New Orleans.