Questions
Spiral after spiral, the spider keeps time
as she spins her sticky section of the web.
Web-time expands until her trap
becomes a DNA magnet that captures
airborne material from other creatures.
Breath after breath, stitch after stitch,
the seamstress keeps time with her needle
as she creates textile paintings and mends
clothing. It’s a mystery how stitch-time
can stretch out like a field of wildflowers.
She wonders if a shirt or sweater
finds it satisfying to be worn day after day
despite having many holes, and if the spider
feels satisfaction that its web still catches prey
even as it becomes tattered.
The seamstress considers curiosity holy,
and ponders whether mystery satisfies
better than understanding.
Knowledge, mystery—
will one outlast the other?
Meg Freer grew up in Montana and now enjoys the outdoors in Ontario. She holds two music degrees and a creative writing certificate, is a member of The Ontario Poetry Society and League of Canadian Poets, and is Poetry Co-editor for The Sunlight Press and a Contributing Editor for Traces Journal. She co-hosts a monthly series featuring poetry performed simultaneously with live improvised music. Her prose, photos, and poems have been published in many journals, and she has published four poetry chapbooks. During 2024-25, she served as Poet-in-Residence for the McDonald Astroparticle Physics Institute at Queen’s University.
Amethyst Review 