My Little Spider Poem - and a Big Spider Story

March 12, 2010

I have a little spider
that lives upon my wall
most times when I go to bed
he’s not in sight at all

but sometimes if I’m lucky
I’ll see him catch his prey
he jumps and grabs and then he falls
while I sleep the night away
- Crystal Lucas

I'll admit, my creativity is slightly withered due to the heat these days. Especially because we're on load-shedding right now, which means our electricity is out for extended periods of time during several days (or nights) of the week. But in the case of this poem, I really didn't mind the little spider. It's kind of interesting to realize how much a part of life creatures such as these have become within my own home. In NC I superglued shut a couple of big holes that spiders came through... here, I admire them as they tackle their late-night snack.

On Wednesday night, my neighbors and I sat outside my front porch in the dark, enjoying the cool breeze off the ocean. (It is WAY cooler outside than in when the power is out and no fans are rotating!!!) My teenage-neighbor girl jumped up, and we thought it was funny that she was scared of one of the mini-lizards that roams our house at night. They're everywhere, harmless, and eat lots of mozzies (or so we hope!). But this time, there was a reason for surprise. She jumped up and shone her light on the "shadow" she had seen... only to recognize that a massive tarantula had wandered just next to her on the wall of our front porch. I'm talking a hairy, creepy tarantula the size of my hand spread out. Down-right scary. He had a grasshopper under his (or her?) body that he was munching on hungrily. And while I'm not usually bothered by such creatures, I definitely jumped each time it moved to take a nibble from it's prey.

My neighbor's brother (fearless as he always is) captured the massive creature in a plastic container, and put it in a cage on their front porch. It's eventually destined for our science teacher's lab, but in the meantime, the lovely tarantula specimen is vying for delicious large insects against the large lizard that lives in their other cage. (Ew...) As much as Mr. Transburg (the science teacher) has assured me that I want to let the spider loose in my house - yes, I know it would get rid of a lot of bugs - I just can't manage to let it out. I keep imagining rolling over with the sunrise in the morning to discover it's hairy creepiness staring me in the face. Gross!