The Apiarist
It was difficult for the survivors
to understand when they came across him.
They watched him, clutching kitchen knives and old
rusty screwdrivers, as if to fix the
broken world was a simple matter of
remembering “lefty loosey, righty tighty”.
Sweat dripped from every inch of skin,
slipping down towards the parched and cracking
soil, raindrops on the bright red paint job of
a brand new sports car. It was, however,
impossible for them to tell if the
beekeeper was as burnt as they were, or
if he too was sweating copiously
under the unforgiving glare of the
apocalyptic sun. He concealed
himself beneath the apiarist’s white
uniform as he danced among the hives
and shimmered, a faceless faerie of old
straddling the boundary line between
this world and the other. Gently, as a
father would, he reached inside a hive and
plucked from its depths a handful of bees. He
cradled their desiccated husks and told them,
voice full of love, how sweet their honey
was as it coated his tongue deep in his
memories. The survivors moved along,
their stomachs buzzing as if full of bees.
About the Author
R. J. Breathnach is a Wexford-born journalist and writer based in Dublin, Ireland. His work has been published in Púca Magazine, Beir Bua Journal and The Honest Ulsterman, among others. His debut poetry chapbook, I Grew Tired of Being a Zombie, is available from Alien Buddha Press
About ROPES
ROPES Literary Journal is published annually by students of the MA in Literature and Publishing at NUI Galway. This year, the journal celebrates its 30th year of publication. When ROPES started out, initial editions focused on Irish politics and history. Over the years, the journal began to include works of fiction, the first being featured in 1998. More recently, the journal has endeavoured to include a wider array of material, ranging from poetry and non-fiction to visual art. ROPES has now firmly established itself as part of the flourishing literary journal scene here in Ireland; what started out as space for students to gain publishing experience has now become a legitimate home for the work of emerging and established writers.
The work that appears in this year’s edition was selected from a pool of 907 written submissions and 153 visual submissions. Readers will find that much of the journal’s work focusses on issues such as landscape, power, disability, dislocation, and gender. The poems published here on Cois Coiribe Impact, by Claire Hennessy and R. J. Breathnach, provoke readers to consider ourselves and our futures in relation to our threatened and fragile environments.
On April 6th of this year, ROPES Issue 30 débuted to the world as a part of the Cúirt International Festival of Literature. The team launched the freshly printed journal in the National Irish Language Theatre, An Taibhdhearc, to a nearly full house. The journal is available to purchase from their website as well as from a number of esteemed book shops, including Charlie Byrne’s in Galway and The Winding Stair in Dublin. Be sure to stay up to date with ongoing projects with ROPES by following @ropeslitjournal across social media and subscribing to their newsletter via the website.
