Arthropoda Californiae
Three weeks after my husband’s cremation
I cancelled the contract
with the exterminator.
Now, I share a home with arthropods.
They teach me to inhabit
hollow spaces. Their movements expand
each room. An ant scurries
around the fortress of cinnamon
on the kitchen counter; the silverfish glitters
on the tub rim like the last link
of a well-worn necklace; centipedes swipe
the bedroom floor like bristly fingers
in search of a hand.
A crossed orb weaver
spans her lace-work
six feet wide between the thuja
bushes. In the old juniper
