my first poem: beware the spider men

You all have heard, I wouldn't doubt, the tales

of the spider men

the way they forge beneath the skin, the way we change

form us to them

it starts off small, the prick of jaws, the itch

beneath a spot of skin

but even then, you do not know, the muscles move,

the webs begin.

You may not see the needles sharp, the graying skin

the cuts and scars

the spiders slave over the webs, that once were bones

and lungs and hearts

it is not long before the cuts grow big, take shape

and from a maze

across your skin, your eyes, your mouth, and through

the cracks the needles raise

you cannot move; your arms and legs that once could run

are planted sound

the silky threads that stick and catch have tied you up

and threaded round

your body, where the webs begin, through the nest that

once was flesh

the spiders climb beneath your bones, their needle legs

all black and fresh

you are no longer who you are, the silver maze, the

rictus grin

the spider men have been and gone, and you are now

beneath their skin

there's another thing, to haunt the town, to hide in all

the places black

you hide and make your spider plan, you feel the skin

crawl off your back

do you remember the man called Ant? Or perhaps The girl

called Clare?

What once was them, no longer is, the spiders took them

to their lair

within themselves they changed and formed and shadows dark and

fast, they came

their dreams and memories are gone, their life remains, but

not the same

for all the people once like us, before the itching

took them down

for all the names, and all the lives, and all the people

in the town

for Neil and Mark and Edgar and Sean, Shelley, Terri,

Matt and Jon

are not and never will return, but it doesn't stop

the list goes on

so beware the spider men, and hide from movements

in the dark

keep your eyes peeled for shapes and smiles that lure you in and

make their mark

the spider men are patient still, they take the people

one by one

before long there will be no more, everyone, you and I

will be gone.