<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wolf Spider<\/strong><\/p>\n Hey, wolf spider Bare-ass, crouching I pause, I lean close, Suddenly shifting your perch <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe Cottonwood<\/strong> has worked as a carpenter, plumber, and electrician for most of his life. He is the author of nine published novels, a book of poetry, and a memoir. He lives in La Honda, California,\u00a0where he built a house and raised a family. His most recent book is 99 Jobs: Blood, Sweat, and House<\/a>s<\/em>\u00a0 Website: http:\/\/joecottonwood.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wolf Spider Hey, wolf spider on the bathtub bottom scaling porcelain, slipping \u2014 uncatchable. I want to shower. You dodge my washcloth, you dart away. You idiot. I\u2019m trying to help. Must I spray you to the drain? Bare-ass, crouching I pause, resting my fingers on the tub bottom when suddenly you are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14415"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14417,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14415\/revisions\/14417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\non the bathtub bottom
\nscaling porcelain, slipping \u2014
\nuncatchable. I want to shower.
\nYou dodge my washcloth, you dart away.
\nYou idiot. I\u2019m trying to help.
\nMust I spray you to the drain?<\/p>\n
\nresting my fingers on the tub bottom
\nwhen suddenly you are tickling the hairs
\non the back of my hand as if
\ngreeting, asking.
\nSo I lift.
\nRapidly I escort you to the kitchen door,
\nset my palm on the wooden porch
\nwhere after rain there is the scent of fungus
\nbut you remain,
\nyou stand on my knuckles
\nstraddling two prominent veins.
\nYour sensitive feet take my pulse.<\/p>\n
\neyeball to eyeballs unblinking.
\nWe, both, are hairy.
\nWe frighten women.
\nWe mean no harm.<\/p>\n
\nyou read my palm:
\nheart line, fate, life line.
\nAlmost a handshake.
\nThen you jump.
\nBrother, farewell!<\/p>\n