Sunday Sundries

4/7/2024 spiders & crawdads

Sucking Crayfish Heads
Con/Jur/d, 4/7/2024

The first time we saw mother
grasp the red-shelled insect
like, legged, slightly bigger
than a morsel, body, fresh
off the boil, twisting the

Yabbie, Mudbug, Crayfish
Crawdad, Lobster, the cheliped
cambarus bartoni (She was a
PhD Plant pathologist after-all)

body from the head

And sucking the spiced water
brains and other viscera from
the bottom feeder’s freshly
unlive cranium, we were dis-
turbed, N. impressed

WE LEARNED

1. Don’t waste
2. We’re part of, not separate from
3. The best parts are not displayed
4. We’re animals like otters

She was from the Old World, pre digital
dominance, now the insects buzz of AI
between us and what we want to say

reminds of mosquitoes thick in the summer
night air in Minnesota, warm, hinting at future
lightning and thunder shaking the propane
scented cabin, skunks walking across our
motionless feet, body shaking with repressed
laughter, and the fresh caught Crayfish boil,
where we learned a lifetime’s worth of

important lessons.

If you don’t Travel
Con/Jur/d, 4/7/2024

What the new generations think of as normal is disturbing
we said, After,  I knew it would be water boarding and 
brass knuckles from now on, he replied, especially 
if you don’t travel outside the colonies and their territories
yes, yes

Later, doing the laundry, the two spiders, who have lived
at the bottom of the basement shower stall all this winter
remaining in their corners, for weeks and months
with occasional musical chairs, in the cold, bugless and
loveless, off-white formed poly-carbon shell, thankfully dry
since the sewer outlet was snaked and plumbed

Couldn’t help thinking, what do they eat? Do arachnids hibernate?

This morning, the bigger of the two was a desiccated husk
a warning shot of sorts, to those who don’t travel, and think
this bland, brightly colored culture is the best we can hope for.

Much love,

Con/Jur/d, 4/7/2024