Redback Spider (Male)
Latrodectus hasseltii

You’re just a package of sperm to her she doesn’t respect your mind face it you’re a sex object
your balls are on the end of your antennae and it’s the contents she’s
after
you thought she was attracted by your skintight brown velvet suit with the brilliant red crescent
on your back but it was just a signpost and you’ve sacrificed your life for a one night
stand
even as she’s still receiving the other half of her offspring’s dna she’s devouring your abdomen

and you realize too late you were thinking with your
antennae
that a one-night stand just isn’t worth the risk, safe sex doesn’t apply to your gender or genus
and oral sex isn’t all it’s cracked up to be



This one was first published in an anthology out of Wagga Wagga called fourW (Vol sixteen ,
ed. David Gilbey) fourW Press, Wagga Wagga, AUS, 2005.
It also appeared in micromacro
(winner of inaugural Onkaparinga Poetry Unhinged
Single Poet Collection Competition, 2006)
published by Seaview Press, Sept, 2006
ISBN 978-174-008-415-4