house centipede 

faster, there are faster ways 
to enter. the windowsill, a tongue,
a ladder. the giants have five
legs. the giants have five
legs that they do not use to 
walk with. oh what could they 
be for? the floor the floor--
under the dining room door, thats
where you go. that's where you
go when you are hungry, where
the spiders pray to marble-eye gods,
all wired in web & song. tell
them to sing to you, ask for
a melody in elegy to each of
their legs. eat their legs,
but not too quickly.
swallow & regret nothing.
there will be giants. there will
always be giants, wielding building
to smash body.the fall of Rome gripped
by their legs. it is night now.
have you found a mirror? 
know to the core of your being
that you are ugly. you are
so so so ugly. your skin, 
a clear sack, muddied. spiders.
spiders are the alluring ones--
with their eyes glinting
as dead stars. ripe blackberries.
ballpoint push-pins. pupil. i do not
feel bad, i do not look
when i chew. i do not
meet their eyes. that's important.
that's an important rule. 
eyes, eyes. eyes. if you
stare into them you will
start to see obsidian everywhere--
you will want sugar.
in the quieter skies-- across
walls-- in the grass where
the real stars are tired &
ready to let go. we are not
yet ready to die. 
if the giants find you, 
you will die. you will die 
& we will not bury 
you. you will not come back,
not return the cycle,
born thousand-legged again.
we lose those. we lose those.
i think of their joints
like the branches of the willow
sobbing into the grass, alone.
i have seen it happen. the fall of Rome. 
the fire & the crushed limbs
& the running.