I had to stop the shower early
the spider I had spotted a couple of days previous was making his way, with the gait of a giant,
across the ceiling, on his way to turn the power off,
before his limbs slowed to stationary with the weight of the steam.
I had planned to fill the near-empty shampoo bottle with water
and enjoy one last suddy cascade
hoping it would take me from clean to feeling cleansed
– then I remembered that I wanted to hear Mark Kozelek
sing about the possum again –
I left the shower, leaving the extractor fan on
thinking that it might somehow take away the moisture
that saturated those hair-thin spider limbs
I listened to Mark Kozelek sing about
going to shows with his friends and the church bells and that dead possum,
wondering if the spider would live