Poetry Month 2012. 22: A Spider

I previously shared some Colette Bryce – a poem about the Troubles in Ireland in 1981 from her collection The Full Indian Rope Trick.

This poem is from her “newest” collection from Picador, Self-Portrait in the Dark (2008). She has a more recent pocket book from Donut Press – I’m sure I’ll share a poem from that one soon too.

     A Spider

     I trapped a spider in a glass,
     a fine-blown wineglass.
     It shut around him, silently.
     He stood still, a small wheel
     of intricate suspension, cap
     at the hub of his eight spokes,
     inked eyes on stalks; alert,
     sensing a difference.
     I meant to let him go
     but still he taps against the glass
     all Marcel Marceau
     in the wall that is there but not there,
     a circumstance I know.

This poem inspired me to spend ages looking through photos of spiders and their eyes, as I was convinced they were NOT on stalks. I was correct. Bastard. Incidentally, I’ve shared poems about spiders before.