(Happy Halloween, everyone!)
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We, in the restaurant,staring
We at them and they at us
They,thinking that we are not them
(and we,perceiving that they are a part of us)
And,inevitably(as was always the case)the waitress
sprang up like a new(damp)fall mushroom,smiling
as she approached us with the typical,vacant separation
while(as far as we’re concerned)her features became what we were
Menus were gently handed to us in the appropriate fashion
and we graciously accepted them in the befitting,civilized manner
“Yes,”soon was uttered about “some cream with decaf coffee”
and then,Eliot-style,we measured out our lives with coffee spoons
Rubbing against the eatery’s window panes,
the yellow fog licked its web into the corners of the evening,
and,seeing that it was a soft October night,
peered in at unsuspecting,engulfing diners who seemed alive(although very much asleep)
And those bourgeois diners’ eyes that stare with superficial,learned separation,
that pigeonhole you as being quite far from what they are (i.e.,it’s all about distance,you see)
while they consume the “having-suffered” ragged claws decomposing upon their plates,
do you feel sorry for them,for whom it all(unfortunately)is very much too late?
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
Wonderful picture Tom, is amazing and beautiful. The perfection of nature.
Thank you much, Marcela! 😊
Love this line! “we measured out our lives with coffee spoons” and oh that web…. the web of life and death
Thanks, Sara… It’s actually an excerpt from the T.S. Eliot poem entitled “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” which my poem is a kind of parody of. 🎃
Your metaphors are befitting to the occasion and the patron diners. So close, yet so very far away. Brilliant reflections Tom! Happy Halloween my friend. 🥰🎃👻 Arach-no-Phobia eh???
Thanks, Kym! Halloween kind of gives spiders a bad rap. They are actually very dynamic, beneficial, interesting, and — in their own way — beautiful creatures. Happy Halloween to you too! 🎃
Oh yes Tom, I know exactly what you mean my friend. It’s like the bats too. They are very beneficial, but the vampire/horror movies make them out to be terrorizing, bloodsucking creatures! 😝 Thanks a million my friend. 😁🙏🏽😍
Very clever Tom and the beautiful web and “Arach-no-phobia” just completed this post perfectly! Happy Halloween!
Thanks, Linda! Spiders do get a bad rap on Halloween. They truly are beneficial and sweet… (most of them anyway). Happy Halloween! 🎃
Yes, they do get a bad rap Tom … if only I wasn’t so scared of them, I might appreciate them more. I need to work on that mindset. 🙂
Happy Halloween back at you!
Ah, there are really no bad ones in your area. When walking in the bushy areas around Askum Pond, i had huge ones falling onto my face and crawling all over it. No problem… They quickly leave on their own and mind their own business. 😊
Many years ago my father worked with a guy who was carrying wood inside for his fireplace and a Brown Recluse Spider bit him on the arm – he got an infection, sepsis and had a lot of nerve damage in his arm and never worked again. We have only two problematic spiders in Michigan – that is one and the Black Widow. I wish I had your courage – I don’t do well with spiders or centipedes and I had a centipede in the kitchen this morning.
As far as I know, there are no Brown Recluses in Michigan at all. Michigan is out of their range. Regarding Black Widow Spiders, they are not in Illinois but they are in a very small part of Michigan… the very southeast corner of the state. Brown Recluses are in Illinois. I live right where their range ends… but they are going more north (due to manmade climate change).
Whew – that is good to know Tom. They are not large or scary looking, but do have problematic bites. Hope you don’t come face to face with any. Climate change and all these weather-related events are worrisome.