I Invite The Spiders Poem by Shelby Barker

to nest in me, and count the webs they spin
as they eat my insides and I grin as
I skip breakfast again.
Their silk laces my veins together, contracting
contracting and retracting
in ill-seeming ways, as I fall and rise with the times
they crawl under and around my ribs.
Their poison yellows my skin.
I call to the ravens and crows
to keep me company, and hear the songs they wail
as their woe enters my nostrils and I smile as
their music grows more vile.
Their curse blurs all pleasant memories, awakening
me to the strange lighting
in abnormal ways, as the noise becomes a concerto
to my frozen blood.
They hypnotize
and widen my sleepless eyes.
Why do I crave the crawling? Why do I want the cawing?
My skin raises, my fingers tremble,
eggs are laid - and I am proud.