First Place winner of the O'Hagan Poetry Prize.
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the widowed spider.mp3I watch a spider crawl down a sidewalk.
He scurries - no - hobbles down this patch of street.
Where is he going?
It is his anniversary.
He promised to catch a large bug for dinner and he hasn’t started spinning a web.
Frantic I watch him blur in and out of the speckled road.
I see him scramble over a crack in the concrete.
Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.
Does he know that warning?
It’s getting dark now. Night is falling.
Or is a boot?
The spider moves no more.
I glance upwards to the owner of that fatal weapon.
It hold flowers for its wife
Winter 2022
Written by Amanda Muscente.
Amanda Muscente studies English, with minors in Writing and Hispanic Studies (class of 2023) at Catholic University. She currently serves as Associate Editor on Vermilion's staff. She has been previously published.
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