Hi, I'm poet and editor Leslie Signs.

I'll be taking on the host chair for the slowdown the next two weeks,

but don't worry.

Major will be back on July 1st.

I can't wait to share my selections with you.

I'm Major Jackson and this on the runway. My friend Rennie pulled something out of his backpack, a can of Coke. He pulled back the tab. The can

hissed its familiar release of carbon dioxide. He took a single sip, then handed it to the flight attendant who was passing by.

I said, I had never heard of a bad can of Coca-Cola. He replied, oh, it tasted good. I have a fear of flying. It's my ritual. I take a swig of soda just before takeoff.

Aha, I said. Today's poem smartly interrogates the role of fears

and how they might unreasonably control our lives.

I have an irrational fear of spiders by Charlie Getter.

I have an irrational fear of spiders something unlike my old irrational fear of flying.

I've never been able to master.

Whenever I see a spider, I jump back,

like the grandmother in an old Tom and Jerry cartoon would when she sees Jerry.

I jump on a chair and feverishly wave around a broom. It's embarrassing. And why is it that when I see a

spider there always seems to be a broom and chair handy escapes me? room and

the chair handy escapes me. Spiders. 99.9% of the time won't hurt you.

And they remove a bunch of insects that can.

They're constructed as an intricate, delicate clockwork

with limbs articulate it, so they move like they're doing Tai Chi, floating like the fog over branches and across

ceilings, and they build and sew Mandalas in space, creating intricate repeating patterns.

...