Carsten René Nielsen:
Forty-one animals
(Prose poems, 2005)

Spider

A puppet theater composed entirely of spiders. It's Macbeth, performed by the fat boy of the class. He has dressed all in black and can hardly be seen behind his theater box in the darkened classroom. The rods from which the spiders are hung, and the many threads that steer their movements, he controls with fabulous precision, a cool passion, and he does all the lines himself in different voices. The witches are played by three fat garden spiders. »Fair is foul, and foul is fair,« they cackle, but none of the children pay attention. The boys are shouting, and the girls are screaming hysterically. Nor does the teacher see the beauty in the performance. In all the turmoil her only concern is finding the switch for the lights.

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