Said the Spider

 an original piece...



This is total bullshit
Said the spider to the fly
It hurts to walk, it hurts to sit
On spinning a web, it hurts to try

Mr. Spider, my wings are old and weak
and do not flap cried back the fly
Age has us all become decrepit and weak
It's the way it is, if you must ask why

Old friend Mr. Fly, I will engage
Time has passed, the by and by
But I did not bargain for pain and age
The order for misery and death, I will deny

Mr. Spider, you have grown so wise
It suits one of many feet
As me with many eyes
But age we must and death we'll greet

Well then, you first old friend.
 And Mr.Spider reached over and bit the head off Mr. Fly. The eyeballs of Mr. Fly popped and crunched like so many bubble-wrapped Gummi-Bears.
 The morning sun was up, and it felt good on Mr. Spiders back. It was only nine in the morning.
And Mr. Spider wondered what he would do with the rest of his day.


yup..I wrote that
MP

A commentary on how the poem came about, and what it means to describe..

1. The original lines came from a self induced project to write one new story or poem per day for 2 weeks. Also on the "to do" list was one new drawing or painting per day for the same 2 weeks.

2. I watched a movie on the career of writer Harlan Ellison, and in the movie he reads from his story ..."Repent Harlequin, said the Ticktockman"...something about that story and the way it flowed inspired the tone of the poem ...also borrowed a fraction of a line from the 1829 poem by Mary Howitt "The Spider and the Fly"

3. It comments on how at a "certain age"...we start moaning about how things in our body are failing us..the topic of conversation is doctor visits, pills and scopes up and in various orifices.
"The order for misery and death, I will deny" is a line twisted from an older actress/glamour queen saying words to the effect..."I will do everything in my power to resist the aging process"

4. I have been re-reading a ton of Charles Bukowski's work....his recommendation for writers was...get on with it...start the story right in the middle of the action....hence the beginning "This is total bullshit"

5. In my life recently..I had been friendly with a couple of people in a minor kind of way...sharing stories and experiences...finding some common ground ....only to have them prove to be completely false and "biting my head off", with no prior warning.

6. The story of the scorpion and the frog, is one that I always relate when trying to explain why some people do phenomenally shitty things to other people....it's just who they are. The spider kills the fly because that's what spiders do. Walt Disney fed us generations of make believe to have us think that this meeting would have a happy ending....the spider would have found his compassionate heart and let the fly get on with his life.

7. The ending of the poem..."It was only nine in the morning, and Mr.Spider wondered what he would do with the rest of his day"...is in reference to a business man who has just laid off hundreds or thousands of his employees....tossed them into unemployment and turmoil...and it's only 9 am on another business day for him.

8. I was listening to my brand new Tom Waits album during that week....which has nothing to do with the price of rice in China...but I thought I'd give Tom an honorable mention.