Spider on the Ceiling
There’s this damn spider moving across the ceiling
like a religion passed down through memory,
strung through time like a thread. This spider knows
just where to go & how to exist softly. What I’d give
to believe in anything as solid as these plaster walls.
Will I ever fully know what lies at the bottom
of a puddle after rain? Surely one could search forever
& still never understand the color blue.
My cat spots the spider first. Gets excited
& pulls her claws into the desk chair, then my knees.
Lets out a chirp. From the kitchen I grab a paper towel,
find the spider & watch as it moves with intention,
maybe instinct. I climb on the chair. Legs unstable.
Mine too. Extend my arm to the ceiling & press
the towel around the spider’s body. Pull back
& give one final squeeze. On the ceiling remains
a dark spot. A dead lake; the deepest blue.
Or perhaps a forgotten moon a family will gather around
in remembrance.
There’s this damn spider moving across the ceiling
like a religion passed down through memory,
strung through time like a thread. This spider knows
just where to go & how to exist softly. What I’d give
to believe in anything as solid as these plaster walls.
Will I ever fully know what lies at the bottom
of a puddle after rain? Surely one could search forever
& still never understand the color blue.
My cat spots the spider first. Gets excited
& pulls her claws into the desk chair, then my knees.
Lets out a chirp. From the kitchen I grab a paper towel,
find the spider & watch as it moves with intention,
maybe instinct. I climb on the chair. Legs unstable.
Mine too. Extend my arm to the ceiling & press
the towel around the spider’s body. Pull back
& give one final squeeze. On the ceiling remains
a dark spot. A dead lake; the deepest blue.
Or perhaps a forgotten moon a family will gather around
in remembrance.
Steve Merino (he/him/his) is a meat raffle host, a zamboni driver, and a poet living in Saint Paul, MN. He received his MFA from Hamline University in 2019. Steve's previous work can be found in Ghost City Review and Oyster River Pages and is forthcoming to You Flower / You Feast. Find him liking posts on Twitter: @steve_merino.