Eliana Beam published her first poem in 1947. Eliana's husband, James H. Beam (Jimmy), was a banker and gentleman farmer. While their five children roamed freely over sixteen acres of woods, stream, and fields in rural Ohio, Jimmy maintained an apple orchard and beehives for pollination and subscribed to The Beekeeper's Magazine. When browsing through this journal, his wife Eliana came upon a poem about bees and decided she could write a better one. Why not? The editor-owner agreed with her.

Not only did he publish her first effort on the cover, but he commissioned Eliana to write one poem per month for the cover, which she did for four years, all on the topic of bees. Using The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture, she researched until she became a bee expert like her husband, though far less enthusiastic. The preface is a reprint of her humorous article, Gripes from a Beekeeper’s Wife. These poems are reminiscent of Thoreau’s essays on human nature, but written in rhyme and meter. Beam uses metaphors about bee behavior to reflect upon community, loyalty, ego, faith, war, and family bonds. These 50 poems have been collected in a volume entitled The Beekeeper's Wife. The last two poems were written 59 years after the first one, demonstrating that Beam’s wit and skill remain as sharp as a bee’s stinger.

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Sample poems from The Beekeeper’s Wife, published in The Beekeeper’s Magazine:

• Epicure’s Choice, October, 1949
• Courtship in a Rose Garden, September, 1948
• A Queen Is Born, May, 1948
• The Dance of Joy, June, 1948
• Christmas in the Apiary, December, 1947