"Ten Legs, Eight Broken" / Spider Poem TikTok

About

Ten Legs, Eight Broken, also known as the TikTok Spider Poem or 10 Legs, 8 Broken, is a poem that went viral on TikTok in June 2023, inspiring countless reactions and memes based on its heartfelt message. Overall, the poem was from the perspective of a wounded spider that was attacked by a human. The poem was written by TikToker @user68519586 (l, e) who shared it in a viral photo slideshow under the sound for Emile Mosseri's "Jacob and the Stone."

Origin

On June 11th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @user68519586 posted a photo slideshow under the sound^[2] for Emile Mosseri's song "Jacob and the Stone." Over the course of three weeks, the photos gained roughly 5.5 million plays and 1 million likes. The poem was titled "ten legs, eight broken" and read:

To the spider,
the shadowed creature in the corner of the room
i hate you.
You scared me just as your brothers and sisters did before you,
and i will tell you what i told them,
You are a trespasser that does not belong here.
You entered without knocking.
Roamed freely like this is your home and decorated my walls with unwanted, silk webs without asking.
You may not be the only killer here, but only one of us is innocent,
and it's not you.
The spider says to me, it's brittle body squashed and dying,
It's not you, either.
There is venom infused in my fang-shaped maws,
but i was born this way.
What's your excuse?
If you could count your murders, how long would you be counting?
Am i really this threatening?
I thought human hearts were bigger that mine, but you have killed with malice instead of marrow of your bones and poison bubbling behind your scowl
And i'm sorry for scaring you,
but i didn't know being seen would cost me my life.
Maybe
If you didn't fabricate the prickly feeling of my legs creeping upon your skin while I crawled across the living room floor,
If the webs I weaved were made of cotton candy and captured clementines, cherries, and sweet peas rather than struggling wings and blood;
If i had a pink tongue, push fur, a wagging tail, and fur legs instead of eight
If i had only two eyes, and they were glittering stars and not supermassive block holes;
If i was the same but looked different;
maybe you wouldn't hate me.
Maybe you wouldn't have loved me, either, and maybe you still wouldn't have let me stay,
but maybe you would've shown me the door or a window.
Maybe you would've shown me mercy.
(But you are still standing, and I am still sorry).
I think
maybe,
no matter how reluctant,
mercy would've been enough.

Spread

After the slideshow was posted on June 11th, 2023, various reactions started to surface from TikTokers who had read the poem and had been moved by it. For instance, an early reaction was posted on the same day as the poem's upload, June 11th, 2023, by TikToker^[3] @fudgingkat who stated, "DO NOT READ TEN LEGS EIGHT BROKEN," essentially stating that it was too emotional to read. The video gained roughly 1.2 million plays and 127,400 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). Another video related to the poem was uploaded by TikToker^[4] @legal_guacamolee on June 20th, 2023, in which she was seen crying and similarly reiterating how emotional the poem was, gaining roughly 218,000 plays and 4,400 likes in 11 days (shown below, right).

Going into late June 2023, reactions to the poem and the content based on it became more humorous. For instance, on June 27th, 2023, TikToker^[5] @piper8125 posted a video with text overlay reading, "fck this poem," in which they'd captured a spider-like insect and then freed it outside, basically saving it, unlike the person in the poem. The video received roughly 97,700 plays and 1,800 likes in four days (shown below).

Viral reactions to the poem persisted on TikTok going into July 2023.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References