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.