Birds with Bees - edit

[dukealien]

Thanks to both critics.  This edit implements most suggestions and responds to the excellent critiques in most instances (including title change to remove the false promise of an essay on human reproduction).   The type of flower modeled is problematic:  its leaves aren't really pointed like a tulip's, but it's not a rose, either, and there's some resemblance to anemones or (giant) pansies or poppies.  The shape is actually determined by industrial considerations (molding in one piece), one supposes.

Edit, title change

Birds with Bees


Hummingbirds, viridian,
gray-vested, ruby-gorgeted
bounce, clip each other
squeak their warning cries
around a feeder full of sugared water
wreathed in vinyl tulips, candy-red.
Among them little black and golden bees
sip sweetened sap
hug, sometimes entering
bright “bee-guard” screens.

When a bird approaches, drinking bees
fly off but circle back
in tighter turns than hummingbirds,
drive off their feather-fanning
green competitors.
Then unlike hummers, bees can rest
atop a feeder’s slick red cap
sun-warmed and indolent.

All this circling, twisting
seldom-touching dogfight whirls
around false flowers
placed for joy.