They’re up on the branch tips, all eight legs en pointe—
one hundred and four chitinous arachnids, their
tutus matching leafless twigs. These spiders parse
every gust, like surfers scoping wind and swell;
desirous wind, wind strong and constant, like
the hot custard disc of June. When it blows
faithful, they hoist their buttocks, as if spiders
actually had buttocks, shooting life-lines of silk
into wind—wind, now a sculptor’s hands, patting
and twirling the silklines into a sail, or is it
a parachute; aeronauts lifting into the air
as if west was the only direction with
a street address, as if wind read their parents
faces, and agreed, only the best days are ahead.

Gary Grossman enjoys fishing, gardening, and running. His work appears in forty-nine literary reviews and has been nominated for both Best Small Fictions and Pushcart Prize. Gary’s poetry books Lyrical Years (2023, Kelsay Press) , and What I Meant to Say Was… (2023, Impspired Press) and his 2023 graphic memoir My Life in Fish… all are available from Amazon.