Valerie Loveland: Poetry • Cleaver Magazine • Issue #33

Valerie Loveland
I AM THAT GROUP OF PICTURES OF SPIDERWEBS MADE BY SPIDERS ON DIFFERENT DRUGS

Scientists call everything an experiment,
…………………….even when ……iit is actually a meme
even when …………………………..it is actually a spiderweb beauty contest
Scientists don’t realize
even when they talk about drugs,
………………………….…………………they are still nerds.

……Who hasn’t been…….. an accident,
an experiment, a copy of an experiment,
……………..another copy of an experiment?

Everyone always tells me I am…………………… so ………………….…..……right:
I am proof there is a part of us all that can be normal.

But I forgot to tell you spider moms die before the babies are born so
…………nobody teaches spiders how to make their webs. I forgot to tell you
a spider doesn’t bother to go back and fix their mistakes.

……………………………………A fact becomes a fun fact
when everyone attempts to tell it to everyone else
……………………………………but everyone already knows it.

…………One time, a person tried to tell this group of photos
……………………………………………………about this group of photos.

I usually display …………………………high contrast black background with white webs
but when I am angry I switch
…………………………………………………………………………to beige background with black webs.

My psychiatrist told me I need to find a new doctor
…………………………………………because he is not allowed to prescribe drugs
………………………………………………………………farther than the fence in his backyard.

Look at this one photo …………and it looks like I am doing better,
…………………………………………………………………………look at the other photos
and it looks like I am doing worse.…… I am doing both.
…………………………………………………………I am not pictures of spiders or drugs
………………………………………………………………but I am constantly asked about spiders and drugs.
I have never been asked if messed up webs still catch bugs.

Valerie Loveland is a poet and programmer living in Philadelphia. She enjoys audio poetry, video games, and fountain pens. Her most recent two books are Female Animal, and Mandilble, Maxilla (Dancing Girl Press). She recently finished [Unsolved Mysteries Theme Song], a manuscript of poems about the 1990’s TV show Unsolved Mysteries.