"B. Wordsworth" opens on lively Miguel Street in wartime Trinidad and Tobago, a country in the Caribbean. On Miguel Street, beggars are canvassing the area, trying to earn some much-needed money from the houses on that street. One of the beggars that are out asking for money is dressed nicely and knocks on the door of the short story's narrator, the young boy. There, the man asks the young boy to see his family's collection of bees. The boy asks his mother if the man who knocks on their door can see the bees. Initially, she doesn't allow the man to see the bees as she questions the man's motivations. However, she eventually relents and lets the man into her yard to see the bees.
The boy decides that he will go outside to watch the bees with the man. The boy and man have a conversation, and the older man reveals to the boy that his name is Black Wordsworth (after the white poet called William Wordsworth). The boy asks Wordsworth a number of questions and the two quickly bond and form a strong friendship.
While talking, Wordsworth asks the boy if he would like to buy what he calls the "greatest poem ever written." Wordsworth offered the boy the poem for only 4 cents. The boy, in turn, didn't accept the offer as the boy's mother refused to pay for the poem. The two end their conversation and Wordsworth invites the boy to his home so that the two could eat mangoes together. The boy's mother is initially suspicious of the man and his motives but allows her son to spend time with the man.
After the boy returns home from eating mangoes, his mother is enraged to see that the boy has spilled mango juice on his shirt. The boy's mother, in fact, beats him, causing him to go back to the older man. Their relationship only grows stronger, but the boy begins to realize how deceptive Wordsworth is.
One day, the boy goes to meet Wordsworth at his home but finds him near death on his couch. Wordsworth tells the boy a joke and then makes the boy promise to never return to him because of the poet's deception. The boy agrees and never sees Wordsworth again.
