Removal Man
I can’t be talking on the phone
I’m busy hunting some bees
snaps the pest control man
pepper in his voice
an ancient small dark-skinned man
bald and wearing a hearing aid
his white shirt and navy pants uniform
fresh like it just came off the ironing board
and a size too large on his wiry-thin body.
This agent of mass stinging-insect destruction
cuts off the call. Stows his way-out-of-date flip phone:
The office won’t leave me alone. Won’t leave me alone.
It’s all grief to him. He does not have time.
Stomps off to the back yard
deletes the yellow jackets Two nests of them
who never saw him coming
Hands me the invoice and gone
whirling down the street.
I am still standing on the porch.
His force field has not yet let go of me.
7/25/19
8/21/19
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
What a fantastic pen portrait. You really created a strong sense of personality with this character. I wonder if pest control does attract certain temperaments.
This guy was made for his job, in my opinion. He went after the wasps with a sense of vengeance combined with enjoyment and some indignation at the effrontery of the poor creatures taking up residence in our grill or a birdhouse, how dare they!