Poet Teri Ellen Cross Davis Responds to a Sculpture by Alexander Calder

As part of our “Poetry is a country” festival we invited celebrated American poets to compose something new inspired by art in our collection. Teri Ellen Cross Davis responds to Alexander Calder’s mobile Little Spider.

On Little Spider by Alexander Calder
Teri Ellen Cross Davis
Whisper said Movement to the Spider.
Casting off light, propelling into color’s true power.
Heaving, thinking: Spider grows: awaiting
Itself: its pointed intuition: its gnawing hunger
fuels fruition.
Heaven is heavier
in cognition.
Belief: a tri-prong stand.
A web— a glistening intention.
A web— a glistening intention.
Belief: a tri-prong stand.
In cognition
heaven is heavier,
fueling fruition—
itself— its pointed intuition. A gnawing hunger
heaves into thinking: Spider grows: waiting
casting off light, propelling into color’s true power.
Whisper says Movement to the Spider.
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