October Poetry Spotlight; "The Fly and the Spider"

Chaos for the fly
is simply dinner
for the spider.

The rain never meant to drown the valley.

It was only falling,
following gravity,
obeying an ancient instruction.

The river never meant
to leave its banks.

The fire never meant
to cross the road.

The wolf never meant
to become a story
told with trembling voice.

Meaning arrives late.

Usually after the damage.

The bird sees a storm.
The storm sees dry earth.
The mountain sees centuries.
The stone sees only down.

Every disaster is ordinary
from somewhere else’s vantage point.

The tree that crushes the fence
calls it falling.

The fox that steals the hen
calls it breakfast.

The stars that die above us
call it becoming.

And someday,

when your worst day
is folded neatly
into someone else’s history,

when the sharp edge of now
has been worn smooth
by years,

you too may become
tomorrow’s lesson
in perspective.

I guess what I’m trying to say is,

you were my spider,

caught in your web,

told I should be grateful
that we would not starve today.

As if survival
was the same thing
as kindness.

As if the fly
should thank the silk
for holding it
so carefully.

You called it love
when every thread
led back to you.

Called it sacrifice
when the hunger
was your own.

And when I chose distance,

you called it cruelty.

But the fly leaving the web
is not an act of violence.

It is only motion.

Only gravity
finding a different instruction.

Meaning arrives late.

Usually after the damage.

And years from now,

when this story
has settled into memory,

you will still call it abandonment.

I will call it escape.

Neither of us will be lying.

That is the trouble
with perspective.

-Jennifer Winter

Jennifer Winter is a mom to four and married to her absolute best friend. Somewhere between the beautiful chaos of motherhood, the little moments that make her laugh, and the experiences that have shaped her, she found her way back to poetry.

She started writing poetry when she was young, using words to make sense of the things she was experiencing, to process, cope, and give a voice to feelings she didn’t always know how to explain. Over the years, poetry became more than an outlet. It became something she loved, and she simply never stopped writing.

Today, Jennifer writes about the deeply personal moments, the messy ones, the joyful ones, and the tiny, unexpected things that tickle her brain in just the right way. Jennifer's poems are pieces of her life, her heart, and the way she sees the world.

Jennifer is currently putting together her very first poetry book, and she couldn’t be more excited to finally bring these words together and share them with others.