Hurray for the Summer Poetry Swap! The first swap is a double delight, because I sent Buffy Silverman a poem . . . and then I got one in the mail from her! As I expected (and greatly anticipated) she sent me a gift from the natural world.
Web Weavers
A spider spins
her silken strands
to trap and tie
a buzzing fly
that stumbles in her net.
A writer spins
her skein of words
to hook and bind
a reader’s mind
with yarns that weave a spell.
— Buffy Silverman
I love the idea of a skein of words! (And I think of Charlotte, literature’s most famous spider after Miss Muffet’s, and before Aragog.) I would love to spend a day with Buffy to learn how she looks at the world and how she comes up with such brilliant poems!
She also tucked a couple of bookmarks featuring her poems into the envelope — much more elegant than the business cards and scraps of paper I tend to use!
Thanks, Buffy, for making the mail such a thrill!
And thanks to Tabatha for organizing the annual event!
Diane Mayr is hosting Poetry Friday this week at Random Noodling! Have a wonderful weekend!
Buffy’s poems grab me every time! I love it!
“to hook and bind/a reader’s mind” — love it! You are so adept at catching me in your word web. Thanks for sharing, Buffy and Keri!
I love the idea of that spider/writer luring us in. Buffy knows how nature works. Thanks for sharing, Keri. I love the swap!
Beautiful poem and photo. Words are sticky, like spiderweb, and can leave an impression for a long time.
I love the surprise of the end rhymes in the 3rd and 4th lines. I’m terrible with remembering names–is this a recognized poetry form, or is it a Buffy?
Have a great holiday weekend. It’s going to be a hot one here, so I can only imagine what yours will be like.
“Yarns that weave a spell” I love it! Such a great treasure from the mailbox.
Beautiful! I love the idea of writers spinning a skein of words. I am enjoying seeing all the poems from the swap going around.
Wow! Love both the image and words — “words to hook and bind a reader’s mind.” Wow! Lucky you to receive such a gift.
How lovely to receive a poem in the mail! A lovely change from all those advertisements and bills! 😉
I will happily take Charlotte over Aragog, *shudder*… 😉
I love spiders so this is the perfect poem. The summer poetry swap is always wonderful.
What a nice surprise to see my poem here, Keri! Glad it arrived okay (probably a couple of days late, but I am nothing if not a procrastinator!) Thanks for sharing it.
What fun treasures this Summer Poetry Swap is unfolding. I wouldn’t mind being caught in this writer’s “skein of words.” There’s another wonderful spider who spins, Sophie from Eileen Spinelli”s “Sophie”s Masterpiece: A Sider’s Tale.”
Buffy is so talented at finding those just right words. I love “skein of words to hook and bind…”
The 2-stanza poem on the photo makes such a gorgeous whole. Thanks for sharing this delightful poem/gift from Buffy!
Ooooh, clever! I love the parallel structure of the two stanzas and the mirrored metaphor. Lucky Keri! I’ll be joining the swap once I return home.
That is just gorgeous! Love the extended metaphor! And I love the idea of bookmarks with poems on them as business cards. Might have to try that!
It’s even fun to watch the swap from afar. I love it that Tabatha organizes the whole shebang, and how it brings our community closer!
I’ll be back for the winter edition!
What a beautiful way with words. Simply stunning!
Keri, I was lucky to have Buffy send me an image poem blown up as a gorgeous photography last year. I love the double poems she created for you, especially the one on the writer. Would you believe that as I read this poem a baby spider was crawling up my arm??? Truth. I have to love nature! Have a wonderful, Bee-tiful summer.