Ode to a Spider
According to my records, this is the first thing I wrote in 2001, and I wrote it on my own initiative. It may have dated around the time that my dad and I had a little fight over Spiders, and their place in the world. My reaction to the spider is very simple: KILL KILL KILL! My father's reaction to the spider is also very simple: OBSERVE OBSERVE OBSERVE! (You know, that just doesn't have the same force as kill kill kill...but I will let it stay to preserve parallelism.) My dad will leave spiderwebs in the weirdest places because he thinks the spiders are absolutely fascinating--including in the house. He would scold me if I killed spiders IN THE HOUSE! Anyway, we made a deal that I would never kill spiders outside the house, and he would never give me a hard time (i.e. throw spiders at me...yes...he did threaten to do that...). I have held to my side of the bargain ever since.
Anyway, I don't know if that's why I wrote this poem, but I did write it.
I don't know when I actually began to grasp the concept of meter. I certainly knew iambic, trochaic, dactyllic, and anapestic even in seventh grade, but as this poem shows, I wasn't able to apply the concept to real life. Oh well.
Ode to a Spider
O Spider, dear Spider, whatever shall I say
When dangling, I see you, your legs all a’sway.
Sometimes I wonder when I see your bright eyes,
Why it is that you give me such an awful surprise.
When I catch you napping atop my downy bed.
The sight of you reclining there goes straight to my head,
And for some odd, odd reason, my body begins to shake;
I find, of a sudden, I undeniably, quake.
I think, my dear Spider, ’twould be more fair to thee,
If instead of squishing you, I turned to flee.
If instead of screaming, I pondered your size,
Your beauty, your quickness, your many legs and eyes.
But somehow, fair Spider, these thoughts come too late.
So sadly, dear Spider yours ’twill be a grim fate.
I have no idea if I realized that "'twill"--a word I have no recollection of ever having read ANYWHERE--would have to mean "it will" and if I meant it that way or not. It will remain another of life's mysteries, I suppose.
Anyway, I don't know if that's why I wrote this poem, but I did write it.
I don't know when I actually began to grasp the concept of meter. I certainly knew iambic, trochaic, dactyllic, and anapestic even in seventh grade, but as this poem shows, I wasn't able to apply the concept to real life. Oh well.
Ode to a Spider
O Spider, dear Spider, whatever shall I say
When dangling, I see you, your legs all a’sway.
Sometimes I wonder when I see your bright eyes,
Why it is that you give me such an awful surprise.
When I catch you napping atop my downy bed.
The sight of you reclining there goes straight to my head,
And for some odd, odd reason, my body begins to shake;
I find, of a sudden, I undeniably, quake.
I think, my dear Spider, ’twould be more fair to thee,
If instead of squishing you, I turned to flee.
If instead of screaming, I pondered your size,
Your beauty, your quickness, your many legs and eyes.
But somehow, fair Spider, these thoughts come too late.
So sadly, dear Spider yours ’twill be a grim fate.
I have no idea if I realized that "'twill"--a word I have no recollection of ever having read ANYWHERE--would have to mean "it will" and if I meant it that way or not. It will remain another of life's mysteries, I suppose.