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Spider Central
James P. Cooper

Several times each summer, I vacuum
any spiders found in the garage, catching
the adults and their babies before they join
their family members already inside the house.

My cat captures and eats the spiders
she finds on the carpet and chatters at the ones
on the walls. I shine a flashlight along
the baseboards and on the ceiling
of the bedroom every night before sleeping.

Any spiders found are sucked into the vacuum
or squished as I roll sticky paper over them.
Anticipating more visitors each night, I stuff
plastic bags in the space below the closet door.

Pillows are inspected and placed three deep
against the headboard as a shield against spiders
seeking my warmth. Any pillows or blankets
lost in the night are not retrieved until morning.

I dream of someone tying down my arms
and legs and torturing me by emptying
a jar of quarter-sized spiders over my head.

I wake up scratching my legs.

—
James P. Cooper has had poems appear in Apple Valley Review, Connecticut Review, Dragon Poet Review, Flint Hills Review, Indiana Review, New Note Poetry, Poetica Review, and Red Rock Review. A vegetarian, he lives with three carnivores, two of whom are cats, in Leavenworth, Kansas. He is a poetry editor for Choeofpleirn Press.

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