Performance in a Cemetery

by Marge Simon

A spider in a seersucker suit
plays a tin mandolin
to an audience of crickets.

Though human in appearance,
they know I'm here to entertain
with mastery of an ancient art.

I charm them with
the bump and grind,
a seductive dance
with filmy scarves
of dermal skin,
then ectoderm,
down to the bone.

The crickets are enthralled.
The spider is impressed.
He insists on giving me his suit
since I've consumed my own.