Baffled

The house spider
was on the inside
& didn’t budge
when the phoebe flew up
& clung to the window screen,
jabbing fruitlessly
at a meal turned to metal —
or rather, subdivided
into orderly
impenetrable holes,
as in a physics
textbook account
of the structure of matter.
Chalk lines on a blackboard,
rows of blank faces
at their desks.
But it was right there
the spider,
the phoebe,
the rattle of wings.

3 Responses to “Baffled”

  1. Larry Ayers says:

    That’s a jewel of a poem, Dave! Thanks!

  2. ...deb says:

    Wonderful telling using two of my own favorite subjects (spiders and birds) and one not (physics). Baffled, indeed.

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