“Mostly I’d Like to Be a Spiderweb

because in the rain I’d look like a cracked window
without a church to belong to. You could look

through me and see the world in front of us.

One time, my ex-lovers made a road of tongues for me.
I took my shoes off to feel the song a little better,

and cut a note short with each step.

I want to tell you how many churches
I’ve built to praise little things that deserve
more than their few seconds of existence.

Like the time I opened my door, smelled hibiscus
and knew you were home.

Like the time a child told me there was a god
And because he was smiling, I believed him.

Mostly, I’d like to be a spiderweb to feel you walk through.
To see if you’ll take me with you, despite the spider I bring.

— C.T. Salazar, from micro collection This Might Have Meant Fire: Poems, INCH quarterly (no. 39, Summer 2019)”