The suds from my hair clung
bubble white halo
And I was clean, cleaning
in the shower with my sandals on --
so even my toes aren't dirty
And I saw you
what to do?!
no bother
I don't mind being nude
will mind my bubble business,
and clean a bit more
But at you parasite, I stare instead
foreign object in my shower,
tumor in my skin.
And then an avalanche --
of soap and scalding water
pouring, pouring
from my hair as I bend over
covering you, drowning you,
as I reach for a bar of soap
frothy tentacles, my hair Medusa's snakes
you're underwater and wiggling,
but I don't move my head --
watch you instead
in a quarter inch of water
struggling, eight legs flailing
and a hollow arachnid scream
I grab a bobby pin,
thin metal gurney, a stretcher --
hurry up, up, out of the water,
you slide off I try again,
again, come now little thing --
move for me! hold on!
And before I swallow the bubbles around my tongue,
you're spread against the tiles
still, soft, legs wrapped like a sea creature on the pin
your chariot to arachnid Heaven
where the webs are golden,
and spacious, and safe --
far from soapy college girls
little thing, little thing
what have I done?