The Arachno Files

On Plastic Spiders: An illuminating discourse on the anatomy, feeding and behavioural habits of spiders in three parts by Henry (3) and Catherine (43)-

H: Has he got fingers?

C: No, he’s got legs, eight legs. See? One, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight…….

H: Are those his eyes?

C: Yes, er…., let me see. I think so…those pointy stalk things could be his eyes, I think..

H: The spider says,  “Goodbye!”

C: Goodbye, spider!

H: Don’t say goodbye!

C: What shall I say then?

H: Say nothing.

H: I cuddle the spider.

C: That’s nice. You cuddle the spider

H: Does the spider walk?

C: I think a spider crawls more than walks

H: The spider jumps!

C: Yes, the spider jumps, but he crawls, mostly

H: He’s stuck on the hair

C: I don’t want it in my hair!!

H: The spider flies!

C: Henry. Do you know what he eats?

H: Grapes!

C: The spider eats grapes, does he?

H: He eats me up. He eats you up.

C: Oh, he eats us up, does he?

H: He eats the eyes. He eats you the hair and the nose and the mouth.

C: Henry. Did you know that spiders eat flies? They work very hard and spin a web. They are very clever, spiders. Then they catch the flies in the web and eat the flies.

H: Hello!  He flies. 

(throws spider)

Eleven not 7

My 'Trailing Spouses' art group is a source of great inspiration. I don't know why I can't come up with any ideas myself for the group. I feel indebted at this point, but grateful.

Andrea suggested that we compose an "Elfchen"for our next group meeting, which is a bit like a German version of a Haiku poem. It has just eleven words, and has a fixed structure like the following

1: 1 word, - a  colour or a virtue
2 :2 words -  an object, theme, an issue or a person
3:3 words -  describes 2 in further detail
4:4 words -  your subjective viewpoint
5:1 word -   summarise

I wrote some Elfchen(s) in English first but then translated them into German. This was quite an interesting experience as the German version went beyond translation and I realised that another (more direct?) side comes out in me when I write German!

Patty suggested we confine the "Elfchens" to the theme of "Future". The future for me is too uncertain  to think about at the moment, I really don't know where I will be living in less than a year. I decided, though, to  preserve something from today for future reference. The banal moments and surroundings that you forget when you've moved house or  country. So the following "Elfchens" describe my home office at various points of the day.

I really like Andrea's idea of making the Elfchens into a three-way folding book. It will reveal the poems in an unexpected way, like the future does.

Green

Spider plant

Squats my desk

The Flower and the Carbuncle

hoping for green fingers 

Surviving.

yellow

A flower

drawn in crayon

appeared on my window

today

Silver

The computer

Showing Donald Duck,

laughing out loud at

failure

Grey
Courthouse opposite
Law against it?
Prince Charles would say
"Carbuncle"

White

A plastic bag

Left on floor

For how many months?

Three?

Grün           

"Flinker Heinrich*"

Ein illegaler Siedler

Nicht grüner Daumen Dank

Überlebend

Gelb

Eine Blume

Fenstergekritzeltes Gemälde, lebensbejahend

Die erschien gestern. Doch!

Heute

Grau

Landgericht gegenüber 

bricht jedes Gesetz

Prince Charles würde sagen

“Karbunkel”

Silber

Der Computer

Warum nicht die?

Gucken wir Donald Duck?

Nee

Weiss

Die schöne Tüte

Auf dem Boden
Einfach hingeschmissen, wie Schlampig!
Bitte?








*Apparantly a word for Grünlilie (Spider Plant), it's in the dictionary, honest!

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