A spiderweb of sheer and dewy strands
blocks entry to my garden studio.
Like crime-scene tape, it competently bans
my passage to the day’s printmaking flow.
Inside, block, ink, paper, press await
the printing of the final shade of gray.
The keyblock will unlock and illustrate
the fearsome features of a bird of prey.
But, ah! The craft of this Arachne’s piece–
a cobwebbery of tough-as-Teflon lace!
I know such artistry gives her a lease
to occupy this space she’s finely traced.
So who am I to think my art trumps hers?
I turn away as admiration stirs.
—
Leslie Moore is a poet and printmaker whose subject is often animals. She is the author/artist of Grackledom, (Littoral Books, 2023), What Rough Beasts (Littoral Books, 2021) and winner of the 2018 Maine Literary Award for Short Nonfiction. She has published poems and essays in journals, reviews, and anthologies. Her art may be found in book illustrations, private collections, at the Local Color Gallery in Belfast, Maine.
