for Ariana Reines
A large spider moved into the house in early October
and built her web above the large crystal grid made of gemstones gifted to me
and collected for more than thirty years.
In the center of the grid is a glass water pitcher with 9 pieces of
clear quartz in the bottom, gathering the transmissions from all of the
crystals in the surrounding grid and infusing the water. I asked the spider her name and later that
night dreamt of the goddess Freya hanging from a thread on the ceiling. When I woke it made me happy to know the
spider is named after a favorite Norse goddess.
I took notes for the poem.
Each morning I meditated with the grid and
drank from the crystal-infused water, chanting and humming and toasting Freya
above me. On warm days I opened the
doors and windows for insects for her web.
Freya grew large enough to catch a bee in her web that she eagerly spun
into a bee-sized package with her spinneret.
I took notes for the poem. I carved
a pumpkin that by the 9th day of candlelight began rotting and attracting fruit
flies that I herded with a peacock feather up into Freya’s web. I slowly ate the toasted pumpkin seeds while
watching Freya eat the flies fattened on sweet, delicious pumpkin meat. The notes became a poem titled, “...”
