Friday, January 30, 2009

Arachnophilia (A friendly love of Spiders)



I want to thank Alison for showing me this poem. It is definitely a favorite...


And thank you, Google images, for finding me the perfect picture to go with it. 

LOL TARANTULAS!!!

Tarantulas on the Lifebuoy

BY THOMAS LUX

For some semitropical reason
when the rains fall
relentlessly they fall

into swimming pools, these otherwise
bright and scary
arachnids. They can swim
a little, but not for long

and they can’t climb the ladder out.
They usually drown—but
if you want their favor,
if you believe there is justice,
a reward for not loving

the death of ugly
and even dangerous (the eel, hog snake,
rats) creatures, if

you believe these things, then
you would leave a lifebuoy
or two in your swimming pool at night.

And in the morning
you would haul ashore
the huddled, hairy survivors

and escort them
back to the bush, and know,
be assured that at least these saved,
as individuals, would not turn up

again someday
in your hat, drawer,
or the tangled underworld

of your socks, and that even—
when your belief in justice
merges with your belief in dreams—
they may tell the others

in a sign language
four times as subtle
and complicated as man’s

that you are good,
that you love them,
that you would save them again.

1 comment:

Jake Garn said...

haha. I love this. It just reminded me of when I used to clean pools. I usd to go to this house that always had tennis balls in the pool. This old lady would always get mad if I mest with them because she said they were for the bugs to climb on. haha. all this time I thought she was crazy.