After Teresa Gonçalves Lobo, “Ninho” [Nest], etching

what use a basket holds nothing
what use dry grass tussocks
what use nest lets chicks slip through

what use hands clasp air
what use weave too loose
what use web dangling tatters

spring-made nest enfolding its fledglings
re-woven weave meshing the strands
new-sown grasses flowering mindscape

spider-brain spins its clever connects
hands shape nothings into dream baskets
of patterns she sees, her eyes closed

Robert Vas Dias
London, 2014