Spider. by Cord Moreski

He used to go by the name Francis.

That was before his old lady lost  

the battle to the lump in her breast,

or when his only son became addicted  

to smack and overdosed outside  

the Carousel House in Asbury Park.

Now all the locals down at Lucky’s

just call him Spider. He crawls in  

every night wearing the same polo

that’s missing a middle button,

and trousers that are soiled

with blood and piss from the day before.  

He sits alone in the corner  

making his web of empty beer pitchers  

and discarded peanut shells,

trying to capture some sort of silver lining  

before the last call of the night

but always ends up getting  

caught in his own trap.

Cord Moreski is a poet from New Jersey. He is the author of the chapbook Shaking Hands with Time (Indigent Press, 2018) and was a nominee for Poet Laureate of Asbury Park (2016, 2018). When Moreski is not writing, he teaches middle school children that poetry is awesome. You can follow Cord here: http://www.cordmoreski.com