Francesca Bell

Upon Reading the Headline A Spider’s Web Is Part of Its Mind

I think  if I could  spin a web  it would look  like the web  of the arboreal  tarantula  I used to keep  in a glass tank  in my bedroom  she had  a big stick  that she used  as anchor  for the silk  she laid down  a little at a time  as she made  a tunnel  to retreat to  her mind apparently  was inelegant  but sturdy  it was homey  in there  but dark  lacking focus  she would  web  web  web  and then rest  hunkering  and slow  not like  the orb weavers  webs suspended  in the open  all autumn  whose minds are  spectacular  symmetrical  who balance  in the center  gorgeous  and relaxed  on their  sharp toes


Francesca Bell is a poet and translator and also the author of Bright Stain (Red Hen Press, 2019). Her work appears widely in journals such as New Ohio Review, North American Review, Prairie Schooner, Rattle, and Tar River Poetry. She is currently hunkered way down in Northern California with her family. 

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