Michele L. Harvey — Touchstone Award for Individual Poems Winner 2017

Michele L. Harvey is a recipient of a Touchstone Award for Individual Poems for 2017 for her poem

their ancient hum
to sunrise
honeybees

It first appeared in The Heron’s Nest XIX:3.

Commentary from the Panel:

“From the very beginning this was a favourite haiku for me. It has a deep sense of beauty but also a dark foreboding given the threatened nature of bees all over the world. Bees are indeed ancient and without them we would not survive as they help pollinate the very food we need to eat. The evocative use of humming suggests the song of life older than time itself. We are left with some hope through the mention of a sunrise and perhaps a rebirth of attitudes and processes that have driven these wonderful creatures to such decline.”

“Close observation of the bees has us in touch with our most elemental, atavistic selves. The very repetition that characterizes rituals and chants — the um that marks every line — reinforces the poetic insight.”

See the complete list of past winners of both Individual Poem Awards and Distinguished Books Awards in the Touchstone Archives.