A poem for summer: "Was you ever bitten by a dead bee?" (Hailey Leithouser)

"Was you ever bitten by a dead bee?"
(Hailey Leithouser)

I was, I was—by its posthumous chomp,

by its bad dab of venom, its joy-buzzer buzz.

If you’re ever shanked like the chump

that I was, by the posthumous chomp

of an expired wire, you’ll bellow out prompt

at the pitiless shiv when she does what she does.

Was you? I was. By its posthumous chomp,

by its bad dab of venom, its joy-buzzer buzz.

"Was you ever bitten by a dead bee?" by Hailey Leithouser originally appeared in Poetry magazine.