Spider Wasp
Put down the power washer,
remove your safety glasses,
pour out the hour of rage
and make way for a spider wasp
dragging its prey across the patio.
Observe how they skirt the clay-
red sea you’ve blasted into being,
and how the wasp struggles
to free the spider when it snags
on uneven brick or a tuft of moss.
When they reach the far wall, marvel
that the wasp neither stops nor turns,
but starts to climb, backwards!
into smooth vertical. Wonder
if the wasp knows where it’s going
and if the spider, now dangling,
is as dead as it appears.
Then look up into the eaves
for a nest you might’ve missed.
when you began readying
the house for another season
before you knew.
Richard Shindell is a songwriter, guitarist, singer and producer. Originally from New York, he now lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina with his wife and family.