Now in IOB issue!

The Metameric Echinoderm
by R L Turner (https://www.fit.edu/faculty-profiles/emeritus/turner-richard/)

https://doi.org/10.1093/iob/obae005

#phyla #echinoderms #annelids #arthropods #chordates #science

Love never visited her.
No man yearned for a half-spider bride.
She longed to be a parent.
Without a groom, motherhood eschewed her.

From an alley, a muffled voice called.
Compassion drew her in.
An infant smiled.
She swaddled me in her compassion.

God blessed her with a child.
Though she didn't bear me, she loved me.
I call myself a spider.
Because my mother was.

CC BY-SA 4.0 International

#tootfic #writing #shortfiction #microfiction #Valora​ #Spider​ #Phyla