“The Spideress” by Leslie Lippincott Hidley

I saw a spider and let her live
As though her life were mine to give
Or take away.

Heat’s what brings her out of hiding,
Secretive no longer, gliding
On the silken fluids she spins.

Gossamer geometries, suspended,
Hidden in her body, quiet, splendid,
Flutter in the evening breeze.

Mrs. Hidley has been writing prose and poetry for her own amusement and that of her family and friends and others for most of her 73 years. And one of her ten grandchildren is named Kalliope. She has lived in Walla Walla, Washington; Frankfurt and Bremerhaven, Germany; Upper New York State; Enid, Oklahoma; Montgomery and Prattville, Alabama; Lubbock, Texas; Dover, Delaware; West Palm Beach, Florida; Goose Bay, Labrador; Washington, D.C.; Fairfield, California; Omaha, Nebraska; and now resides in Ojai (Nest-of-the-Moon), California, where she continues to write.