Tarantula

From the collection of “Bodily Observations”

The eight-legged ambush puppy

Plods along on padded paws,

A wary foot clasped to Earth

With two fishing hooks.

She shovels aside the soil

And rot of yesterday’s supper

To glaze her burrow walls

In a pleasant, pale wallpaper.

She preens a spindly limb

And combs over fine hairs

Sitting atop her abdomen.

Such is the prideful work

Of a homemaker.