On-Farm Research

by JESSICA GIGOT

The entomologist comes to the farm
To capture and record the diversity of bees
In our fields.

He is trying to find out how many
And what kind of bees
Are still here.
How bad is this die-off, the reported
Widespread hive collapse?

We have a lot of bees here, he tells me,
Such as the wool carder bee.
The ones that came from England
That collect hairs from plants,
Use them to line their egg cells.
Harvest "wool" to cushion
And insulate their young.

We will shear our sheep in September.
I hope to knit my baby a blanket
Using their carded and spun wool.
I will wrap it around her
Luminous, thin skin in winter.

Our flock grazes beyond the herbs
And vegetables and sweeping motion
Of his sword-like net. I watch as the bees,
The scientist, the plants and sheep
Do their work. Separate
And also glaringly interwoven.