So Many Legs I Couldn’t Count Them All by James Babbs

I kept looking out the window

then back into the living room

drinking one beer after another

and I didn’t know how many

it had been like this for hours

and it still wasn’t dark

I went and got another beer

came back and sat down

I kept looking out the window

then back into the living room

and I saw the spider

all those hairy legs

and the big black body

and it was crawling

slowly across the floor

this huge fucking thing

the size of a cat

with so many legs

I couldn’t count them all

and I thought

maybe it wasn’t a spider

maybe it was something else

something from another world

sent down here to suck my blood

I sent a text to Marsha

and told her

there was an alien creature

in the middle of my living room

but she never answered me back

I threw an empty bottle at the fucker

but missed and watched it move

a little closer to the wall

it didn’t seem to be

all that interested in me

I kept drinking my beer

and the spider just stayed there

it s hairy legs moving

without going anywhere

then I finished the beer

and was ready for another

I leaned forward

keeping my eyes on the thing

I slid to the edge of my chair

and waited before I stood up

the spider seemed to twitch

I took a deep breath

then I took a step

and the spider moved toward the wall

another step

and it scurried away

ran into the wall and disappeared

I just stood there rubbing my eyes

I sent another text to Marsha

and told her

the damn thing disappeared

I went and got another beer

came back in

leaned down and examined the wall

not a trace of anything

I sat down and took a long pull

I kept looking out the window

then back into the living room

there wasn’t as much light now

the spider was gone

I leaned back in my chair

it was starting to get dark

Author bio: 

James Babbs has published hundreds of poems over the last several years in print journals and online.  He lives in the same small town where he grew up.  James works for the government but doesn’t like to talk about it.  James Babbs is the author of Dictionary of Chaos (2002), Another Beautiful Night (2010), Disturbing The Light (2013) & The Weight of Invisible Things (2013).