I am the swarm

by Nikita Kostaschuk

my housemate tells me
I am a chore
to live with, says I am always
coming home in chaos,
says the mess and jumble
of it is too much for him.

doesn't he know about the bumble
of bees in my head?
I swear he did.

I swore he could hear them
through the walls
in his room when I am trying to sleep.
all they do is dance
their paths to the pollen stuck
to everything I say.

they only want to make honey.
they wax
lyrical, build hexagons
in my head to contain it all.
all the mess and jumble of the world
is too much for me
to contain alone.

I thought he could taste the sweetness
that leaks
from my every word
but he just leaves the world hollow.

he doesn't understand
that I am the swarm,
the secateurs, the flower,
that within me lies
an eternal Spring.

Nikita Kostaschuk (ink.eyta) is a spoken wordsmith hailing from meanjin/brisbane. a background in English Literature interplays in their work with their lived experience of autism, gender, trauma, humanity and brokenness. a facilitator of spoken spaces, ink.eyta organizes SpeakEasy Poetry Open Mic.