In the rafters of my old building             there was this hornet nest

    that grew out suddenly in          the middle of summer

There was this hornet nest   and it looked like

           the middle of summer,              all orange and brown

     and it looked like     the shirt of the man above us

                    all orange and brown.                  I could only see

the shirt of the man above us.  He told me the difference

            I could only see         between wasps and hornets

He told me the difference   was that hornets had bigger heads.

       Between wasps and hornets,     I wondered why it

was that hornets had bigger heads,                    round and bulbous.

                I wondered why it        looked like a baby’s head.

Round and bulbous,         the nest kept folding onto itself and it    

   looked like a baby’s head.    When I got tall enough I saw

      the nest kept folding onto itself      through a hole on the bottom.

When I got tall enough I saw     you could fit a baby in a hornet nest

though a hole on the bottom.                            If you squished it up

      you could fit a baby in a hornet nest.        Legs all tucked up

    if you squished it up.                                                          A baby, legs all tucked up.         I wondered if they were growing

                                     a baby                 inside there.

               I wondered if they were growing         something with   bones and skin and                               a beating heart.