THE SPIDER ZOO
On the Tau Ceti mission, 2093

1.

Back a long long century ago
	in one of the Skylabs
they kept an arachnid in weightless bliss
	only to watch it lose
	all sense of self
here we have less than a full measure
	of gravity on the shelf
yet every trick we miss
	everything we do or often don't do
	seems to weigh heavy

2.

We house our aracneida diomeda at the view port
	in a lucite cage
she's content to pass the time
	this simple way
she doesn't have many risks
	not the slap of a telephone book
	or the twist of a wrist
unlike us she is safe
	from history's wrath

3.

At feeding time
I snatch one of the flies that vex hydroponics
	one the coolant mists have stranded
	inside and have slowed to a hum
I push up the small lucite hatch and drop it in
	which sets our Cross Spider bouncing
	gymnastics on a chaotic trampoline of silk
among the stars things are stark and absolute
we make of it what we can

4.

Sated and content
she curls into a knot of web
	woven into a still point
the spider hangs on the edge
	of the black storm of silence
	that is deeper space
the spider dreams
	the first vibration of a true spring

5.

I could describe the rest
	you know the spin and bite again
	the periods of inactivity
	but I'll leave it for you to imagine
even controlled as this on the ship
	it's the call of genetic imperative
we wonder is our human life in the pods
	at the helm or at the controls
	or in our own sleep cubicles
	much different

- Robert Frazier

A complete list of winners of the Rhysling Award
- science fiction poetry's most prestigious award -
including Robert Frazier,
is online here."

All rights to this poem belong to its author.

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