Monday, May 13, 2013

The Spider Must Die!


Death by Spider

I.
A freakishly large spider sits in the corner of the tent
on the deck of the house my father built behind our house
sniffing my glue.
Vision of a smoky nightmare.
A broken soldier staring up the nose of a Panzer
Toting a machine gun without any rounds.

Sleek, impenetrable shell of the toughest behemoth to stumble into my nightmares thus far.
Long steely legs covered in razor stubble
A cluster of bulbous eyes staring at me
My fear immortalized in their reflection
Calling me out.

I weave between drips of rancid goo from its fat head
Dragging my feet in full rigor
A dead man’s shuffle.
Scarring pink clouds of insulation leave trails of fiberglass down my windpipe
Unable to plead for my miserable life.


II.

If my armor is pierced how would death find me? 
Blood sucked dry until flesh is but a brittle tarp swinging from cracked frightened bones
Bundled in sticky white webby tendrils stained with blood.
A life-sized thick tuft of cotton candy perched on a femur.
Jewels scattered beneath wistful remains
Swept away in a river of blood
Sliding into the cracks of Papa John’s sturdy pressure-treated deck (Posts screwed; not nailed.).






III.

All around me the festivities continue without a notion
Inkling
Or a grand gesture on the part of those beneath the watchtower
Celebrating like there’s no tomorrow,
In danger of death by spider.

If only I was destined to swing a hero’s broadsword with the force of a nuclear blast
Thrusting radiantly
Cracking open the monster
Decking scorched 
Raining black shells that morph into bats
Green waste with chunks of liver and bone.

A loud bang and a deathly jolt of lightning
Splitting the beast in two
Eyeballs scattering
Arterial spray heaving bits of acid and hunks of squishy innards
Thumping.
Accumulating like snow.
Laughing as it dies.

If only.

IV.

Skirting the outer perimeter with my heart in my throat
Spine puncturing a lung spewing bile
I drag myself as far from dismemberment as humanly possible under the circumstances
Knowing he licks at my heals.

Shit!

A menagerie of waxy white creatures
Eight delicate legs stretched out and bent lightly
Ghostly chandeliers swinging breezily from dainty glowing threads
Breathtakingly beautiful
Hypnotic
A morbid mobile circling over the shadows of good times.
A blink of an eye
A studder
Haunted apparitions glide as elegantly as toddlers in frilly tutus to the ground
A bumbling ballet
A ghastly distraction.
Violently plucking the skin bags with the most adipisere producing blubber
as easy as you please.
A down comforter of terror squeezing volumes of blood into a cherry red bloated frozen face of fear
Choking
Spatting on the deck a gooey fountain of bodily fluids in clumps
Thump
Thump
Thump.

V.

The albino beast hauls its catch back up the inside of the tent with the strength of a ten ton wench on crack
A dangling corpse on its line
Amongst the subtle dance of glistening demons
War heroes
And the entire drowned passenger list of the Titanic.

The waltz with death is near
Heaving now from fear
All the decks’ a stage
Oh, Horror!
Careening through danger in a drunken stupor
Frantically searching for a gurgle
an awe stricken expression amongst the dead and dying.

A friend
mouth opened
bits of brain in her hair
Cigarette burning to the quick
Suspended between vomit stained fingers and a mouth quivering in disbelief
Fear gliding on invisible wings of ash
Extinguished by a whisper of hope
The calm eyes of madness.

I scream to her, my friend, “The spider must die!”

Not taking her eyes off the twisted circus beneath the big top of the tent
on the deck of the house my father built behind our house,

She whispers,

“That would go against everything I believe in”

Well, “Fuck.”

VI.

In the end I die valiantly
Not giving those fuckers the satisfaction of a single tear
Severing a leg, maybe two with a raging battle cry before death pronounces me.
An honorable passing
The way I always dreamt it would be.
A legend in my own mind.

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