Bee People

This slim volume of poems is titled as it is because partly it is about people I have met as a beekeeper and partly because, when I write about bees, I do so rather anthropomorphically, treating them as if people.

Many of the poems are about people and incidents in Ireland. Annually I attend the Federation of Irish Beekeepers Associations Summer School, held at Gormanston College about 20 miles north of Dublin. These poems and others about people are in the front of the book; those about bees and the way they work come later. Last is a marathon that should not be read by those of a sensitive or squeamish disposition!

A couple of the poems have been published elsewhere and I was encouraged to write the opening poem, a hymn, by a Sister of Mercy, Dolores McCann. It was first sung in public, not at Mass as intended, but at 3am in the local pub by Claire Kehoe, then Irish Honey Queen, and her sister Miriam!

Read, sing along and enjoy!

Chris Slade