A Falling Out

One week ago
while weeding
our organic flower garden
I met a nest of 
six-legged creatures.
Their angry buzzing wings
formed a swarm and
came in for 

the sting.

And, sting they did.

I managed to return
armed with a special petroleum-based
wasp spray laced with strange-sounding
chemical ingredients. *

Grace with the luck to
have survived the mere
eleven bites, I retreated inside
to care for a painful, puffy,
swollen hand.

Now, one week later, as
I write this poem
I am gratefully aware I
remain mostly alive.

          *Chlorothane, Cresoils, Dibutylphthalate, Dimethylphthalate,
            Epichlohydrin, Isophorone, Napthalene, Phenol, and Toluene

                (One source notes that these inert products "can cause nausea, vomiting, 
                  stomach cramps, skin/eye irritations, pancreatitis, nervous system disruption,
                  dizziness, respiratory paralysis, comas, and a sundry assortment of maladies 
                  including death.")

                                                                                     -Clem J. Nagel   7/29/2013