Social
Anxiety Disorder
by
Matthew Early
I
never acknowledge it:
The
tarantula that nests in people’s mouths.
Hopping
from host to host,
its
hair matted from heavy exhales,
pincers
and legs jutting out to chins,
with
weight crushing tongues
long
given up on.
I
am always too much a stranger, and victims—
coworkers,
classmates or cousins too far removed—
aren’t
ever eager to share.
I
just cannot but I do know
how
every sundown the spider clacks
the
ivory of canines,
announcing
ritual with a song
they
think only they can hear.
It
feeds venom to throats during descents
to
sleep in stomachs,
overdosing
innards and cocooning them for later.
I
never call to check up.
Some
mornings I see them pale and sickly
from
trying all night
to
drown it with Jack.
Their
breathing is always strained
from
the webbing covering their windpipes.
The
spider marionettes
mouths
to smile with silk,
but
people will always run
from
fangs and too many eyes.
I
just cannot bring myself to comfort them,
because
the spider has already stitched tight my lips.
Matthew
Early
is a poet originally from Columbus, Ohio, currently residing in
Indianapolis. He holds a B.A. from Muskingum University and is
currently pursuing his MFA in creative writing at Butler University.
He is the recipient of the 2018 Beulah Brooks Brown Award in Poetry.
His work has also been featured on The Academy of American Poets
online website, Poets.org. His work has been published in Echo, and
First Circle, and he has placed in several collegiate literary
competitions.