1. Read the poem 

  2. Do your own reflection on it, noting what it inspires in you

  3. Feel free to use your own reflection as your prompt or…

  4. Use the selection of prompts below the poem

  5. Pick one that inspires you and write (feel free to use only one or write several poems using different prompts) or…

  6. Don’t use any of the provided prompts and follow your inspiration from wherever it comes

The Cobweb

A few minutes ago, I stepped onto the deck
of the house. From there I could see and hear the water,
and everything that’s happened to me all these years.
It was hot and still. The tide was out.
No birds sang. As I leaned against the railing
a cobweb touched my forehead.
It caught in my hair. No one can blame me that I turned
and went inside. There was no wind. The sea was
dead calm. I hung the cobweb from the lampshade.
Where I watch it shudder now and then when my breath
touches it. A fine thread. Intricate.
Before long, before anyone realizes,
I’ll be gone from here.

—Raymond Carver
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/books/review/King-t.html

Please join Writing From The Inside Out by attending the read-around sessions on Friday afternoons. It’s free, fun, a great way to share, and reading a poem is optional. If you have not registered, click the button below; and if you have registered, you do not need to register again, simply use the link sent to you in your confirmation email. Register Here:

Next Read Around is June 10, 2022at 4:00 PM (PST)

My Thoughts

We've all had one of those moments stepping outside when the world clings to us. Mud on our boots, rain on our backs, cobwebs in our hair. Often, it is predictable, based on conditions, and we wear the world as we trudge on. Sometimes, however, it is unexpected, especially with cobwebs so thin they are imperceptibe except when the light and the eye are angled properly. Otherwise, we only know what we encounter once the webbing snaps to our body. Raymond Carver’s poem, The Cobweb, describes such an incident, which led him to turn in his tracks and go back inside to get it off. This happened against a backrop of “dead calm,” while the fine, intricate thread, broken and waffling against his breath, reminded him of his own mortality. Carver’s poem is a beautiful example of how the sticky adhesions of the everyday world can sometimes put our whole life into perspective.

Prompt Menu

  1. Journal or write a poem based on whatever comes to mind from the opening phrase, “A few minutes ago…”

  2. If you have a deck or patio at your house, step out onto it and describe what you notice. In what way does the scene or something in the scene remind you of what has “happened to [you] all these years?”

  3. Recall a time when you walked into a cobweb and it stuck to you. Journal or write a poem about that incident.

  4. Journal or write a poem about how the world clings to you, physically and metaphorically.

  5. Imagine there is a “thread” that links you to life. Journal or write a poem about it. What does the thread hold (perhaps everything that has happened to you)?

  6. Use the phrase “dead calm” as your prompt and follow where it leads.

  7. Recall something in the outer world that got you to go immediately back inside. You could start with the prompt, No one could blame me for turning and gong back inside when…

  8. Journal or write a poem about a time when you were reminded of your own mortality, preferably by some minor event.

  9. As usual, write about whatever else inspires you from the poem or from life.