Martinelli is a Seattle-based freelance writer and editor. In this essay, he examines how Jacobsen uses the poetic narrative to tell a story about the life of a fiddler crab and then from the story makes the claim that all life comes from one god.

The poem “Fiddler Crab” appears in Jacobsen's expansive collection In the Crevice of Time: New and Collected Poems, published in 1995. The work is a short narrative poem telling the story of a fiddler crab's life and death. It is nondramatic, but this does not detract from its complexity. “Fiddler Crab” is an excellent example of how narrative poetry can, in fact, deliver a complex message. Beyond this, “Fiddler Crab” can be better understood as a benchmark example of Jacobsen's entire body of work. Throughout her eight-decade-long career, Jacobsen delivered nothing short of profound, rich, spiritual work, and “Fiddler Crab” is no exception...