mineral lit mag
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    • Still Standing
  • Home
  • About/Submissions
  • Masthead
  • Featured Poets Series
    • 3 poems by Chris Prewitt
    • 3 poems by Taylor Byas
    • 3 Poems by David Hanlon
    • 3 poems by Bailey Grey
    • 2 Poems by Seán Griffin
    • 1 Poem by Jarrett Moseley
    • 3 Poems by Hannah Cajandig-Taylor
  • Issues
    • Issue 1
    • Issue 1.5: Hozier-inspired
    • Issue 2
    • Issue 3: Recovery
    • Issue 3.5: Lana Del Rey
    • Special Summer Solstice Prose Issue
    • Issue 4.1
    • Issue 4.2
    • Still Standing
Spider on the Ceiling
 
There’s this damn spider          moving across the ceiling 
like a religion          passed down through memory, 
strung through time          like a thread. This spider knows 
just where to go & how          to exist softly. What I’d give 
to believe in anything          as solid as these plaster walls. 
Will I ever fully know          what lies at the bottom 
of a puddle after rain? Surely one          could search forever 
& still never understand          the color blue. 
My cat spots the spider first.          Gets excited 
& pulls her claws into the desk chair,          then my knees. 
Lets out a chirp. From the kitchen I grab          a paper towel, 
find the spider & watch          as it moves with intention, 
maybe instinct. I climb on the chair. Legs          unstable. 
Mine too. Extend my arm to the ceiling          & press 
the towel around          the spider’s body. Pull back 
& give one final squeeze. On the ceiling          remains 
a dark spot. A dead lake;          the deepest blue. 
Or perhaps a forgotten moon          a family will gather around 
          in remembrance.

Steve Merino (he/him/his) is a meat raffle host, a zamboni driver, and a poet living in Saint Paul, MN. He received his MFA from Hamline University in 2019. Steve's previous work can be found in Ghost City Review and Oyster River Pages and is forthcoming to You Flower / You Feast. Find him liking posts on Twitter: @steve_merino.
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