Regarding Yellowjackets
For the sun strikes just right
to show how lightning streaks.
For yellowjackets firework the garden,
a zagging, jagged pageant.
For their frenzy, they are rumored
to be fierce, to sting repeatedly.
For they are wasps with a cave for a nest.
For the cave’s mouth gapes
a foot from our steps.
For that cavern might be vast,
catastrophe under the dirt’s skin.
For one website warned they would kill us.
For another source claims they will,
if left alone, do no harm.
For they will, in winter, die off,
someone says, their queen leaving
to find a new realm.
With climate up in the air, who knows?
For this commotion feels perpetual.
For now, the shovel and hoe
rest inside the shed while I let
what lives below stay below.
to show how lightning streaks.
For yellowjackets firework the garden,
a zagging, jagged pageant.
For their frenzy, they are rumored
to be fierce, to sting repeatedly.
For they are wasps with a cave for a nest.
For the cave’s mouth gapes
a foot from our steps.
For that cavern might be vast,
catastrophe under the dirt’s skin.
For one website warned they would kill us.
For another source claims they will,
if left alone, do no harm.
For they will, in winter, die off,
someone says, their queen leaving
to find a new realm.
With climate up in the air, who knows?
For this commotion feels perpetual.
For now, the shovel and hoe
rest inside the shed while I let
what lives below stay below.
Fall 2026
Joannie Stangeland is the author of several collections, includingThe Scene You See (Ravenna Press). Her poems have also appeared in Thimble Literary Magazine, Bear Review, Quartet, Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington State Birds, and other journals and anthologies. Joannie holds an MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop.
Art: L. I. Henley
“Scorpio Girl: After Rebecca Hart Olander's Singing from the Deep End,” 2026
Colored pencil, acrylic, notebook paper, found The Jesus and Mary Chain album art
“Scorpio Girl: After Rebecca Hart Olander's Singing from the Deep End,” 2026
Colored pencil, acrylic, notebook paper, found The Jesus and Mary Chain album art