Redback Spider (Male)

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

(originally published in fourWsixteen: new poetry and prose,
Wagga Wagga Writers Writers,  David Gilbey (ed.)
fourWpress, November 2005). Also upcoming in the micromacro collection, 2006