Snail Solipsism

Solipsistic snails dreaming of being
the dream of a walrus, a unicorn, maybe,
not knowing nobody knows
who exists, who doesn’t,
but knowing by tiny beating snail heart
there are trees under the snow of
the sunken city marble eaten away
by currents carrying stoic fish,
ignorant of questioning dreamers
and their unlayering of realities inside mathematically sequenced shells

Beaded Dream

Dreams, sitting in a tree:
beadwork in lightning bugs,
smelling of thunder
when they fall into
your outstretched hands.

The Tiny Sounds (Of A Glass Garden Breaking)

Making sense of sounds smaller
than the bones in your ear,
so tiny they get stuck like splinters
under the nails of your fingers planted
in the soil of forgotten dreams
where you try to grow new ideas
but now the sounds trickle down
the lanes between tendon and bone,
shivering across the back of your hand
and still you don’t know their source
and you start digging
and you fall through the roof
off a heart of glass
but land among fern and flowers
and the beating wings of hummingbirds
settle on your shoulders
and the sound disappears
into the shattered sky of your chest.

Too

It’s too deep and too much
and the mountains too high and
too far away
to lick the salt off their cheeks
and contain it all between teeth and tongue
and in trying so there is no room left for words under the roof of your mouth
the rocks and fern sticking to the arching palate aching with the burden of summer and rain and all the movements of tall grass in the breeze and
the trails of stars escaping from your lips, your eyes, streaking forgotten glamour across cheeks fallen silent in the attempt to say it all and swallow the day
and the orbits of planets are fairy rings dancing in widened eyes, on the planes of retinas crowded with a million afterimages of exposure to a world so full every mind holds but a fragment
but you want to put together all the shards and drink the Milky Way from this ancient vessel of beauty

Snail Glyphs

The magic of snails silently weaving
their glyphs into the night:
patterns of the language unspoken
by the ones without ears
spell-ing out in their dizzying space
of ignoring dimensions and gravity
their marks of the seasons
in scented maps trailing across
windows and tiles and the moon
reflected in yesterday’s rain
speaking of movement and
the joy of sampling every flavour
in their small universe

On The Benefits of Snails at The Workplace

This is mostly about small land snails (like Helicidae) and work in the (home) office.

– Motivation to eat healthy snacks: they love fruit and vegetables, but only need a little piece at a time, so sharing an apple or a carrot with them is nice, plus you can watch and sometimes even hear them nibble away at their portion
– Hydration: snails need their liquid, so when you give them some fresh water, you can get yourself a glass of it, too (or just give them a few drops from your water bottle every now and then, if it’s clean)
– Rubber duck debugging, but with living, breathing, moving creatures!
– Reminder to slow down once in a while: watch them move around and take some breaths; it’s also very meditative to pay close attention to the way their muscles ripple when moving, how they use their mouths, and especially in younger snails you may be able to see their heart beat!
– Living search puzzle: take your eyes away from the screen every now and then and try to find all the snails in their latest hiding spots
– Reason to take regular walks and pay attention to nature: go find them a nice little branch with lichen, a few crunchy leaves, some dandelion …
– Creative outlet: decorate their terrarium with natural elements, maybe display some art (by taping it to the outside), make it a little diorama …
– Cheap, quiet, and no allergic reactions: great alternative to dogs! (And other than cats, they won’t sit on your keyboard – unless you forget to close the lid.)
– Great conversation starter
– You can give them funny names that remind you of things you enjoy
– Their cute little faces can lift your mood :)

This has been my lunch break while watching the snails in the box on my desk at home.