"Arachnia" by Anne Carly Abad, Frequent Contributor

Arachnia
Anne Carly Abad

curtain the windows
cover them
creepers peek
from down below

emerald eyes acquire
a taste for what they see

rise and fall
of chest and pulse
shudder of  laughter
sheen of tears

as one lounges before
those noisy shows
one becomes the show

they will strike--
slipping past slits on sliding glass
or closed doors--
with spider silk tongues
thin enough to enter pores

they will feed
on breath and heat;
in return feed victims
a lengthening sleep
night after night until
one awakens
in homespun shadow
stalking a familiar face
behind a glass window

Poet's Notes:  I like taking walks and running at night. The warm light of from lampposts and the cool wind make me feel like I'm in a different dimension, or so I like to imagine. There's this one house that keeps catching my eye. In my country, houses are heavily gated for safety. This house doesn't have a gate. And to top it off, it has a gigantic sliding window.

In Philippine mythology, there are fearsome demons like manananggal (pictured). They have long, thread-like tongues that can slither through the smallest openings on roofs and walls. Manananggal eat fetuses using their tongues, as if drinking from a straw. They fly about at night, often unseen. Recently there have been sightings. My imagination ran wild, thinking these things, and so, the poem.