Shower Spiders
A freeform poem.
I know I am home because there is a spider in the corner of my shower.
Growing up, it was an unspoken rule between my siblings and I:
You do not kill the spider.
Under any circumstances.
I don't exactly know how it happened,
But the rule stuck,
And the spider stayed,
A resident in the corner of our shared shower,
Keeping us company
In our most vulnerable moments.
As I stepped into my shower today,
I noticed an all too familiar face;
One I had not seen in many years.
Though I've moved,
Place to place,
Over the course of my 20s,
This spider never seemed to follow me -
Until now.
I am 900 miles from the house I once called a home.
But it seems I am home again,
As home is where the spider is.
I've come to realize,
That I've cultivated my space
To reflect the many
Moving
Aspects of my life.
I see my childhood bathroom;
It's green,
All the same.
Though the muted color I picked at 25 is better
Than the lime I fought for as a tween.
I see a leather couch;
Just like the kind my siblings and I used to jump on as kids.
My childhood dog, Daisy, made a crease in the corner,
And my current dogs are destroying our current couch in similar ways.
Of course, the dogs;
Though they change,
Coming in different shapes, sizes, and colors,
Their familiar companionship remains the same.
I see the pond in my backyard,
And I'm reminded of the times
Our father entered us in the trout fishing derby.
Oh,
How I love those memories.
I see a Tiffany style lamp on my desk
Everyday,
And it reminds me of the one
Dangling
From the ceiling in my nana's kitchen.
I see so many things;
They remind me of the people
I love
And of the memories
I made with them.
My home is an eclectic assortment
Of the taste I've cultivated
Through years of being with family,
Inside family homes.
Now,
I know.
Home is where the spider is.
About the Creator
Ashley Lima
I think about writing more than I write, but call myself a writer as opposed to a thinker.
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Comments (11)
A beautiful poem. Love your use of the spider...home is where the spider is. Well done.
Oh what a lovely nostalgic story. We have spiders everywhere here, if we allow them, they will be the ones coming for us, so many. Love, love your poem. So beautiful.
I kill the shit out of spiders, and then I get an exterminator to come just to be sure they don’t have friends. Funny thing is, I’m always seeing spiders, in dreams and waking life, because they are my totem animal. They represent divine feminine energy and creativity. A few summers ago, I stayed in this hippie commune type AirBnB in Portland. This same spider kept coming to the exact same spot in my room, right above the pillow on my bed. It would bungee jump on its silk thread just to fuck with me. And I would call the hippie homeowner into my room, and he would take the spider outside. It would come right back the next morning. And no guests before me ever mentioned a spider. So that was wild. Maybe your shower spider was a positive omen. I loved reading this, because I’m currently working on a poem about what home means to me. It means something so different for everyone. You have such a sweet and nostalgic take, which is the opposite of mine. I want no reminders of my childhood home. But this gave me hope as a mother. I hope my son looks back fondly like you, and hope he takes pieces of his childhood wherever he goes.
This is a really gentle sweet poem - I too refuse to kill the spiders, and that's probably why this poem spoke to me so clearly! Great job!
Awww, it was so sweet of you guys not to kill him! I loved your nostalgic poem!
Uh memories! This was really cool. I have a daddy long legs in mine at the moment too.. the only spiders that don’t make me feel threatened. 😆 I love the nostalgic tone you’ve incorporated into your free verse poem and your last line is classic! 👏☺️🕷 Well done!
Wonderful poem filled with nostalgia. Very nicely done.
Superb lines!!! Reflecting on the past, you were able to shed positive thoughts without getting too melancholy!!! ♥️♥️💕
Incredible. The way you told this was brilliant. I hate spiders yet I love how your siblings respected them. Thanks for sharing this. 💛
Oh this was great! It turned into so much more than I expected. The spider in the shower, in that very vulnerable space, gave me some shivers. But then I like what this turned into. Really nice!
Lovely and spider-cringey. Love your voice.But yes, don't kill the spiders.💙Anneliese