Crawlies Poems

Why don’t I sleep?

Why don't I sleep? 
Those creepy crawlies under my bed 
Those monsters in my closet- they’re
in my head instead

The rotten  apple is my heart 
I’m alone in the dark
That black blanket pressing
Down, down, down
Cocooned and captured 
Yet comforted: 
The absence of sounds 
Whilst my thoughts drown 

Sleeping is for the weak
I’m alert. Sound the sirens, alpha to delta
When am I ever off duty?
I deserve a pay rise
I need a break  
I want to feel
I’m stuck as this burnt out star 
In the blackening night sky 
And I wonder why
black bags under my eyes 
Who’s surprised 
When I don’t sleep

Sheer me, relieve me 
Of some sort of substance
i feel it as the days drifts 
Yet night is when I’m still
Grounded in the covers; quilted handcuffs 
Maybe I am guilty- is this my penance?
At least in the darkness I can’t see
In the darkness I’m not me
Why don’t I sleep?
Maybe the person in the morning 
is not someone I want to be

Scripts Of The Macabre

Creepy crawlies and heebie-jeebies
raw ripples on your skin kafkaesque;
You peek at that dark monstrosity,
cannot tell if it’s a trick or treat;
Nerves taunt with chimerical spectres;

Weepy eyes are stung by angry bees,
‘Pshaw!’ escapes a story so grotesque;
Flew through your mouth unable to flee,
caught swelled saliva starts to secrete;
Serves well scripts of macabre directors.

Boar Man, from THE WOMAN WHO COULD EAT WOOD

Boar Man


Boar Man was the best at
his job of eating food waste.
He didn’t mind
the truly horrible taste.

Regrettably he’d lost all his friends
because every time he opened his mouth
flies and creepy-crawlies
went into their mouth.

I Sometimes Question Reality

Just last year they told us
the Joro spider was harmless,
now I read that big old bug
is surely really venomous!

What in the name 
of the Mandella Effect is that,
or is it just arachnid propaganda
simply meant to scare us?

Oh, wait, I see,
in paragraph twenty three,
those flying spiders mean no harm
to folks like you and me.

Then I remember watching
a TV documentary 
in which those creepy-crawlies
spun a web around the entire city.

Or maybe it was just a movie,
a simple work of science fiction,
but I think I will still hang on 
to my conspiracy theories!

Persecuted Petals

In a province exploited 
by prejudiced seasons,
a minority ebony rose 
is taunted by prominent 
i v o r y            l i l i e s.
Biased blossoms ridiculing 
tones of its charcoal petals,
yet blooming in the same 
quilt of soil as each other.

Soothing raindrops 
never discriminate though,
as scents of petrichor 
fuse with floret elegance,
nor does the sun only shine
for the privileged,
as all flora sunbathes in
the passions of its rays,
refreshed by the same 
migrating gentle breeze.

Scarlet beetles 
munch upon lily leaves,
whilst aphids suck 
upon rose sepals.
Creepy crawlies 
unconcerned with 
a p p e a r a n c e,
massacre and spread 
like an epidemic.
Until the arrival of 
feathered immigrants,
who feast upon an 
assortment of morsels.

In any garden, 
birds care not for 
whom they sing.
They defecate on all flowers, 
aware all will wilt eventually.
Winter frost oppresses 
regardless of culture, 
so birds flee.
But, when roses crumble, 
they re-emerge 
fresher and brighter,
as their red thorns remain 
protecting their right
to flourish freely under 
fresh blue skies..
F O R E V E R

After The Flood

    The flood waters are rising, and rising.
             The sandbags didn't keep out
                   All the creepy crawlies.

      Caution! Do not wade into the water!
            Houston, we've got a problem;
                  Alligators and snakes!

Call for help and get the heck out of dodge;
             You might lose a limb or two,
                   Or suffer a worse fate!

Dark Nights

The darkness of a moonless, starless night
when crawlies writhe beneath your bed despite
your prayers, mother’s kiss, and you recite;
monsters are not real; I’ll be alright;
they come; the creepies come without invite.

You hear them moving, though they’re out of sight.
Stay still. Don’t move. And go away, they might.

And so you lay, wet sheets, till morning light.

Spooky

spooky spider legs
	waltz across a witch’s web ~
		creepy crawlies cringe

Gila Monster

I'm solitary, roaming 
The American southwest desert;
Heaving my bulky body -
Covered with bead-like scales 
Of black and yellow - 
Across hot sands and rocks
In search of prey.
I'm a nocturnal,
Cold-blooded lizard.
I flick out my forked poisonous tongue 
To taste the air like snakes do.
Do not confuse me
With a Komodo Dragon, 
I'm a much smaller reptile,
And I wear a different skin.
My tail is rather short.
My razor sharp claws are used 
To dig burrows and unearth 
Buried eggs of tortoises, snakes,
And other lizards.
My diet include small crawlies 
Such as rodents, frogs, meerkats, etc.
I don't mind birds and their young!
I'm a Gila Monster

Bag of Spiders

Inside this cell no sell, just a bag of spiders big and fat 
with gnarly hands she tucks away fifty crawlies in her hat
Her name is Katz and she loves cats but not old stinky rats 
she thrums aside the prison door like a pining cat   

Witches brew and boogaloo I cast a spell on you  
muddle muddle fuddle duddle here's a stick of fever few  
as the warden goes a jumping he unlocks on cue  
spider spider drunk on cider, wackalacka spew ! 

On a broom made of chrome I will fly me back to Rome 
all the spiders in my sack will find their way back home
wiggle wiggle jiggle niggle cruise but do not roam 
in my cauldron little Gretel, cries and weeps alone 

Well here is how the bones are stewed soft and tender,  
gently brewed 
well here is how the bones are stewed soft and tender,  
freshly stewed....

June 15, 2023
Contest Name: Bag Of Spiders 
Sponsor : Matt Caliri

Spring Cleaning In Winter

It is not only the weather that is unreliable these days.
Spring cleaning now happens only in most people's dreams,
Or when something lost leave few alternatives,
To entering the domain of spiders and other creepy crawlies,
And praying there are no wasp nests.

For me it was a chance to declutter and re-arrange ,
While my wife was out of range,
And it seemed the right time to make the change,
While my body is still up to the challenge,
And my mind still within the recommended competency range,
That reduces the need for an ambulance to arrange.

Of course it may not have happened in any season
If my daughter had not given a good reason,
To prepare for her moving back in this winter season.
With our grandson, to give me even more reason.

August Legends

The sky is news-worthy
the day brightly published,
up-town where the trees live
sunshine plays in the streets.

Later, in the wild-walking cities
there will be donuts;
racers will twirl while they hurl
rubber into smoking halo's,
but here in suburbia
only recycled and ritual sins
are dumped decorously
into well-kept trash bins.

The air is clear in God's manicured acres
where all the long dead Shaker's
had the decorum and foresight
to propagate no more of their brightness,
nor publish simple gifts to the unheeding.

A community grills hotdogs and burgers
through a late summer day,
dullsville simmers away 
long into the evening crawlies,
where the glaring stars retell 
bygone bedtime stories.

The Tiniest Things

The tiniest things I can ever recall
Are, oh, so unbelievably super small,
I am told they reside in my eyebrow
Giving me creepy-crawlies anyhow.
To think they live upon my face
Such a parasite is a total disgrace,
So inconceivable this could be true
There’s absolutely nothing I can do.
I wash my face twenty times a day
Hoping to wash those suckers away
Shaving my brows an option, you see,
But then folks would make fun of me.
So, I suppose I must learn to co-exist
Thankful nothing’s living on my wrist! 

Written August 9, 2022

Wriggly Worm Nursery Rhyme

I am digging in my sandpit
and I find a wriggly worm
I take it to show my mummy
you should have seen her squirm!

She does not like creepy crawlies
as they make her feel quite ill
But she's not seen my new pet spider
I have called my spider Bill!

Nursery Rhyme Poetry Contest


Sponsored by Eve Roper

10/12/21

Die Die Pesky Fly - Lipogram

Sweltering summer temperatures
and warm sultry summer nights
left me scratching my legs red raw
I hate receiving nasty insect bites
 
I’d slather bare limbs with cream
that the chemist had given me
Bites are an issue that I live with
itchy red legs are quite unsightly
 
Every beach dress skims the earth
and I ensure I spray all my skin
But these heartless hungry critters
find a gap and they  get stuck  in!
 
I’ve spent all my hard earned cash
yet have been unable find a cure
Why can’t these creepy crawlies
abstain, their bites I can’t endure
 
A friend suggested that I purchase
a new-fangled electric bug racquet
It zaps the pesky bugs with each swat
and E-Bay didn’t charge me a packet!
 
The package arrived back in May
with my electric zapper I’m smitten
I’ll carry it with me all summer
I am certain I’ll never get bitten!

Lipogram Poem Poetry Contest

Sponsored by Emile Pinet

Letter O has been omitted

Rhyme checked with rhymezone

06/17/21

• Short Crawlies Poems
• Famous Crawlies Poems
• Best Crawlies Poems
• Read Crawlies Poems
• Long Crawlies Poems
• Crawlies Quotes