Natalie Crick, from the UK, has found delight in writing all of her life and first began writing when she was a very young girl. Her poetry has been published or is forthcoming in a range of journals and magazines including Interpreters House, Ink In Thirds, The Penwood Review, The Chiron Review and Rust and Moth. Her work also features or is forthcoming in a number of anthologies, including Lehigh Valley Vanguard Collections 13. This year her poem, ‘Sunday School’ was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Spider

The whisper
Wicks from her lips.
A soothing salve.

She bends, twists,
Feet touching the walls
In eight different places.

Her laurels always rove.
Search.
Hold.

Gagging the dawn chorus
Until
The hunger moon thins.

Dissecting a house fly,
She commits
Murder on the brightest window,

At first frost
Opens the door
Without a guest to feast.