why i don't like fellini
imagine a twenty year old woman
she is lying on the beach
getting a tan
perhaps her back is getting a little too much sun
there are pink lines where the straps to her top usually cross
she is laying on her stomach
the sand is warm and feels good
she is daydreaming
in her mind her arms are around a young man
they are kissing
she feels a sting on her left cheek
just below her eye
without thinking
reflex brings her hand to her face
and she removes a small black and red spider
she shudders and quickly leaves the beach
hastily tying her bathing suit
and feeling at her cheek with a testing hand
later that night her cheek is red and slightly swollen
she promises herself she will see the doctor in the morning
but when she wakes it is gone
there is no pain and no swelling
by afternoon she is in the bar with friends
and has forgotten the entire thing
two months later
while dressing in front of the mirror
she notices a small swelling under her left eye
by midday it is a noticeable lump
and by the following morning
it is a fairly large growth
she touches it constantly and although there is no pain
her fingers return to it again and again
(the tongue always returns to the cavity, plays with the pain)
while she is touching it
it explodes like a boil
instead of spewing forth the expected puss and blood
dozens of small black spiders literally fly out of her face
she is shocked and then screaming
the spiders continue to empty themselves from her cheek
free after an abnormal gestation
several months later
the same once beautiful young woman is still in the hospital
she cannot look in the mirror
cannot bring herself to touch her own flesh
she becomes hysterical at the sight of spiders
Copyright © michael dennis / Ordinary Press 1982
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