A SPIRAL ORB is the type of web that spiders from the family of Araneidae weave. It is also the title of a web poetry journal that Eric Magrane founded in 2010. Poets such as Craig Santos Perez, Linda Russo, Yona Harvey, Brenda Iijima, Stephen Collis, Christopher Arigo, Douglas Kearney, CA Conrad, Dan Beachy-Quick, Wendy Burk, Megan Kaminski, G.E. Patterson, Jen Hofer, Sarah de Leeuw, Dina El Dessouky, Maleea Acker, and Heidi Lynn Staples, among many many others, have contributed to Spiral Orb.
From the description of Spiral Orb:
How systems (a poem-system, an eco-system, a human-construct-system like a state or a country, a solar-system, a web-system, a circulatory system, etc.) organize themselves (and are organized) is of great interest. This systems focus may be considered a permaculture poetics. The lyric cross-pollinates the experimental. Sections (words, phrases, lines) of each poem published in Spiral Orb are embedded with hyperlinks to other poems in Spiral Orb. A composite poem including a fragment from each piece in Spiral Orb serves as the entry piece and table of contents. Hence, Spiral Orb is an experiment in juxtaposition, interrelationships, and intertextuality. Each poem stands on its own, but is also illuminated by its links. Anticipate the poems making contact with one another in an odd and perfect manner.
Note: Spiral Orb is currently on hiatus from publishing any new issues. See the most recent issue, “A Literary Inventory of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument” here and see archives of past issues here.