Neonicotinoids

Out at the back they huddle
turn off, tune out, ignore
their office messages, tobacco-calmed.

Beyond the ring-road silent orchards
stare up at an empty sky
while the bees, receptors jammed
are all on auto-reply.

Following a career as university lecturer and researcher in plant sciences I set out to write poetry in 2010. I study with Jenny Lewis following an Oxford Diploma in Creative writing, and have attended numerous workshops in Oxford and at Ty Newydd. My poems have appeared so far in Pennine Platform, Tips for Writers, anthologies and online http://jennylewis.org.uk/students/sarah-watkinson/ and I was highly commended in last year’s Norwich Writers’ Circle Open Poetry Competition judged by George Szirtes. I am working on a collection of poetry related to environmental concerns.