Richard Forester is the author of six collections of poetry and lives in Cape Neddick. In his poem he observes the work of an orbweaver, finding it a source of wonder and admiration.
Garden Spider
By Richard Foerster
Argiope bruennichi
An orbweaver, adrift among
the hosta’s spent stalks, black
and brilliant-banded gold, dead-
center in a mist of silks and two
zigzag vertical rays strung as luminous
warning to any flying bird, hovered
last evening, head earthward, her legs
poised to set the web trembling to a blur
each time I crouched to watch, spell-
bound and snared with the thought
that here’s the perfect fretwork
to grace a backyard garden. Now
this morning I see she’s consumed
each filament, digested the indispensible
proteins to respin the entire design
somewhere away from my quisitive gaze.
What must I admire, left with empty
space: an unbending mind
fixed on private workings, or the way
the very fabric of a world
can be chewed up for weaving again?
Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Poem copyright © 2002 by Richard Foerster. Reprinted from “Double Going,” BOA Editions, Ltd., 2005, by permission of Richard Foerster.
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