the desert is mystically alluring at sunset, looking docile and safe
few sights are as gorgeous as her evening skies of oranges and pinks
those who know, do not venture out after dark
for the desert is like a dangerous woman who looks unassuming
but is anything but
in the crooks and crevices of sand dunes and cacti there are dangers
hidden from most.
scorpions, camel spiders, tarantulas.
thorny devils, iguanas, and sidewinder rattlesnakes
the beauty of the desert sometimes obliterates these facts.
it would be rare to encounter a fennec fox, badger or muskrat
but they are there too, and could become violent if startled or crossed.
the desert is a beauty; but a vulture or bald eagle could swoop down
and carry you off and your little dog too.
Categories:
tarantulas, environment,
Form: Free verse
Right out of the gate
the world grows eyes on the inside of time.
A banana tree as tall as an eyelash
bears bunches of fat yellow legs,
clusters of pendular legs are called hands.
Contradictions serve to jog you out of your mind.
Try not to think of babies kicking their own toes,
or ponder too much
on tarantulas and small venomous snakes.
Lifting the rusting machinery of a primal brain
can be hard work if you’re not used to it.
nevertheless,
raise a blink that takes a snapshot of a life.
After much rehabilitation and recover
feel free to postulate
that life seems much longer than it really is.
Most mature bananas are about the same length,
this simple observation alone
will make you unrecyclable forever.
Categories:
tarantulas, poetry,
Form: Free verse
all automatic alligators arrive arrogantly
barely behave beautifully but brazenly
carousing with creepy cruddy crocodiles
desperately denying despicable wiles
effectively expediting expediency
forever forsaking fruit flies who flee
glaring at grazing gritty grouses
hijacking horrific herbivore’s handy houses
igniting ingenious iguanas in I-o-Way
jubilantly joining jerky jaguars along the way
kibitzing kinesthetic killers from Zion
lollygagging like lively luxurious mountain lions
marvelously marking multitude of mini monkeys
notoriously noting nefarious nodules of displease
ostentatiously opening overt outages in Oregon
providing panda putrid prey Paul just spit on
quarrelsome quicksand quail
rapidly reading registered mail
saying sassing sentences swiftly
turning terrific tarantulas toenails thickly
utilizing underwater undercurrents down under
verifying valid villans' voluptuous plunder
with wild willingness and witchy wonder
‘xacting ‘xactly ‘xtreme ‘xestentialism supreme
yelling youngster’s yips on front of the queen
zinging zealous zealots into zebras galore
end of this abcedarian poem, there is no more.
Categories:
tarantulas, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form: Abecedarian
On the twelve days of Christmas, West Texas gave to me
twelve tarantulas creepin’,
eleven javelinas diggin’,
ten jack rabbits jumpin’,
nine skunks a stinkin’,
eight mantis prayin’,
seven snakes swimmin’,
six mountain lions,
five sunny days,
four mockingbirds,
three hoary bats,
two horned toads,
and a cowbird in a mesquite tree.
On the twelve days of Christmas, West Texas gave to me
twelve oxeye creepin’,
eleven acanthus flamin’,
ten willows twistin’,
nine cholla jumpin’,
eight tumbleweeds rollin’,
seven shin diggers stickin’,
six purple thistles,
five sunny days,
four mountain laurels,
three ruby muhly,
two hawthorn,
and mistletoe in an elm tree.
Categories:
tarantulas, animal, bird, christmas, environment,
Form: Lyric
Across the sideways, bronze framed hall mirror,
A ribbon of infrared light imprinted itself,
Like a streak of alien sky;
Hours later, it dimmed and blew out, like an ill-furnished house.
Other reflections crawled across like tarantulas...
Somebody's corduroy acorn brown trouser legs and spotless tapshoes;
Somebody's long-lashed, hazel-ringletted doll; it was wearing a lacy, tulip-embroidered smock with frilled edges, and it was napping in a nook.
One day, somebody slipped-up; their teacup, which had a watercolour lily design, ended-up on the mirror:
The owner of reflections fragmented,
Until it was nothing but a set of chess pieces, cluttering a dustpan.
A crescent of sun splintered the window, targeting the shards in the can like yellow rose hued rainbows.
Categories:
tarantulas, allegory,
Form: Free verse
saguaros
guardians of the sonora
a battalion wafting
in one hundred degree heat
standing sentry on granite slopes
vertical green etches
in carmel cliffs
literally--litter the foothills
rising up the mountain
saguaros fall away
ocotillos remain
their leafy tentacles flailing
like upside down tarantulas
dotting the crevices and shelves
along with mexican oak
climbing higher
ocotillo give way
to arizona cypress, alligator juniper,
and too many nondeciduous oaks to name
desert? what desert?
temperature's dropped to sixty four
at six thousand feet
aspen and maple emerge
a little further
along come all the conifers
tall dark forests of
douglas fir and ponderosa pine
nearing the summit there's...
snow? not snow. in august?
no, not snow. really?
nine thousand feet
corkbark fir and a
couple of spruce
it's now a cool
fifty two
town on top
we stop
baby needs hoody
and hot chocolate
grandpa needs
to fathom it all
fifty miles,
six thousand five hundred feet
below
it's one hundred and three
sky island
not overrated
Categories:
tarantulas, granddaughter, grandfather, nature,
Form: Free verse
The rain is falling down
high up from the skies above
like hoards of tarantulas
all over me
It's making me feel low and miserable
like the tiniest crumb left on the ground
from a loaf of bread
The rain is falling down
its making me desperate for a bright ray of light
but at the moment all that surrounds me is darkness
The rain is falling, falling, falling
and I wonder will it ever end
Categories:
tarantulas, rain,
Form: Free verse
WILD MEADOWS
Wild meadows left and right, guarded
by hedgerows, each side with gates,
openings on sites regarded
macro, wildlife wonders, elate's
scientist, biologist, all.
We venture into grasses tall.
Eyes wide open, and cameras
all to hand, notebooks recording.
A shout goes up, tarantulas!
Some idiot had been hoarding.
We, for them grateful; took them home,
a few snaps then straight on the phone.
Spiders safe the foray still on,
back to the field, new adventure.
Grasshoppers caught our attention,
Stridulating a strange creature.
Time moves on we check our records,
nature now, too many discords!
Categories:
tarantulas, nature,
Form: I do not know?
On dark Halloween Night
The moon will lose its light
The goblins will hunt you
To cook your entrails into barbecue
There will be loud screams in town
Cry of crows will be heard all around
Ominous howls of wolves will be the worst
They’re Draculas’ Foreboding Blood-thirst
Ugly wraiths will hung themselves in gallows
On ghost gum trees with monster shadows
Hunchback men will haul caskets with their spade
Putrid carrions will soon be insidiously laid
Witches will set scalding poisons in cauldrons
Tarantulas will scuttle out from their alley holes
Be wary and wear your red-lighted horns
It pre-empted them from feasting your eyeballs
On that very dark Halloween Night
Your friends will be out of sight
Grave yards will be widely opened
Zombies will be searching all hunky men
If you are really one of them
Better hide from those arrant Zomb-women
A warning for both adults and children
To ignore a bloody and one’s horrifying mien
There will be more scary creatures
On that Halloween night if you go out and venture
Just wear your spooky costumes and make sure
You cannot only walk but fly and crawl
Sept. 12,2014 1.50am
Categories:
tarantulas, celebration, halloween,
Form: Rhyme
A pet more exotic I'd wanted.
A pet to be groomed and then flaunted.
Not a dog or a cat -
Something cooler than that!
I began my search feeling undaunted
In a pet store I came on a ferret.
Such a pain he was! How did I bear it?
Under doors and through cracks
He'd escape from me. AAAACH!!
So I traded him in for a parrot.
Well, the parrot just wanted to fly!
And that bird knew more bad words than I.
When he called me a whore,
I threw open the door:
“Now you’re getting your wish, Bird. BYE BYE!
A boa constrictor I bought,
He’d like to be cuddled, I thought,
But he wrapped and he squeezed,
As I gasped and I wheezed,
And offered the rat that I’d caught.
A bowl of piranha I won -
I played Baccarat with a nun -
And they wiggled their bums,
So I tickled their tums,
But bones ’stead of fingers aint fun.
My elderly aunt sent a text,
Suggesting tarantulas next,
But my spider alas,
Took a bite of my ass:
My pet-owning hobby is hexed.
I went to the pet shop, I swear,
But nothing I wanted was there -
To my pets I am prey,
So I went on eBay,
And purchased a big teddy bear.
For the "Grab a Partner" Contest. To see
who I collaborated with, read my comment
under the poem.
Categories:
tarantulas, humorous,
Form: Limerick
There was a naughty girl
And a naughty girl was she
For nothing she would do
But sit all alone and worry
She hadn’t
Any money
She definitely
Wasn’t funny
She was
Just a mother
And a wife
Like no other
Never very strong
Too often
She’d be wrong
In her
Darkest hour
She’d somehow
Find the power
Sit back
And find a smile
Just laugh
For a little while
Responsibilities
Each day
Cause her
So much strife
She must find a way
To achieve
Something
In this life
Oh wait,
She already had
This naughty girl
Was bad
She almost forgot
All the
Special things
She’s got
Two sons
Two daughters
A dog
A fish
And a mouse
All of them living
With
Two tarantulas
A snake
And her spouse
See
There was a naughty girl
Turned out the best she could be
She grew up to be a woman
With a wonderful family
Copyright © 2009 Lena “Lolita” Townsend
*For Brian’s “Christmas Parlour Poetry” contest
Categories:
tarantulas, girl,
Form: Bio