Poem
Kathleen Jamie
The Spider
The Spider
The Spider
When I appear to youby dark, descended
not from heaven, but the lowest
branch of the walnut tree
bearing no annunciation,
suspended like a slub
in the air’s weave –
and you shriek, you shriek
so prettily, I’m reminded
of the birds – don’t birds also
cultivate elaborate beauty, devour
what catches their eye?
Hence my night shift,
my sulphur and black striped
jacket – poison – a lie
to cloak me while, exposed,
I squeeze from my own gut
the one material.
Who tore the night?
Who caused this rupture?
You, staring in horror
– had you never considered
how the world sustains?
– the ants by day
clearing, clearing,
the spiders mending endlessly.
© 2011, Kathleen Jamie
An uncollected poem, published here with kind permission of the author.
Kathleen Jamie
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1962)
Kathleen Jamie is a leading figure in a generation of distinguished Scottish poets that also includes Don Paterson, Robert Crawford, John Burnside, Roddy Lumsden and Jackie Kay. She was born in Renfrewshire, Scotland in 1962, and grew up in Edinburgh, where she studied philosophy at Edinburgh University. Her poetry career got off to an early start when she received an Eric Gregory Award (for po...
Poems
Poems of Kathleen Jamie
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The Spider
When I appear to youby dark, descended
not from heaven, but the lowest
branch of the walnut tree
bearing no annunciation,
suspended like a slub
in the air’s weave –
and you shriek, you shriek
so prettily, I’m reminded
of the birds – don’t birds also
cultivate elaborate beauty, devour
what catches their eye?
Hence my night shift,
my sulphur and black striped
jacket – poison – a lie
to cloak me while, exposed,
I squeeze from my own gut
the one material.
Who tore the night?
Who caused this rupture?
You, staring in horror
– had you never considered
how the world sustains?
– the ants by day
clearing, clearing,
the spiders mending endlessly.
The Spider
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