Drone of the Queen Bee

by Nate Pritts

My friend in red has gone all weak-kneed
over this girl in stripes. She merely points a finger
in his direction, & an excruciating joy dawns on his face.

Gone are his ever-ready quips & chortles.

As you might imagine, this has caused a rift
between my friend in red & the rest of us.
In vague & inconsolable jealousy, my female friend

has started to show some skin. My friend in green
simply lifts the heavy boxes he is always carrying
a little higher, a kind of shrug.

My friend who wears earth tones is nowhere to be found

& won’t return phone calls. Me, I’m happy
for my friend in red. I sit inside a big yellow dome
& wonder about the beauty of the sun’s light.


Nate Pritts took his BS at SUNY Brockport, his MFA from Warren Wilson College and his Ph.D. from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Currently, he teaches at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, a residential high school for gifted students,& at Northwestern State University. His poems have recently appeared in Rattle, Cimarron Review, Solo, Dogwood and 5am.

Nate Pritts was nominated for Poets Under 30 by the storySouth editors.

poem from JUST US FRIENDS