Queen Bee

Queen Bee
—for Ted Hughes

“the slither of an eel”
—Carol Ann Duffy,
“Stuffed,” The World’s Wife

I put a couple—of hickies
On his jowls—to honor
Assia Wevill—tiny delicate
Tattoo reminders—of what
A Spiv—Ted Hughes was

Then like an—undertaker
For the—Rich and Famous
From the—Land of the Dead
I sewed on—a grin to match
His crummy—Crocodile tears

I stitched—a Weaselly smirk
On his thin cruel—Yorkshire lips
I added some—Penguin Boy
Flippers—to his Circus Act
To make him—more famous

I gave him—the pierced heart
That only a—fake Valentino knows
To help him along—his ambitious
Path to be—the Queen’s Kept Man
Mytholmroyd Meathead—of the Moors