You’re a slug
You’re cold
You’re tired
You’re hungry
You’ve just spent several days
getting from the hedge
to the paving stone
And you are exhausted
Your children are hungry
They were crying when you left them
And what do you want right now?
What would make it right?
Cat food
Some kindly soul
Or careless cat owner
Or overfed cat
has left some
delicious, mouthwatering cat food
with a side serving of beer
The beer was either left by the cat
Or by one of the tall beings
who had poured the liquid on the ground
by mistake
Anyway, this ‘beer’ you like, is right by you
You’ve caught the scent
you are down that route
Second wind
you have found the strength to sliver down thereabouts
You are onto it
Life is good suddenly
You get that sometimes don’t you?
You know, when you dare to think that life is good?
That maybe, just maybe, the powers that be might favour you?
Or that the wind has changed direction
And you are no longer the scapegoat
The cursed
The person for whom sods law was invented
No bad luck tonight though eh?
Tonight, lady luck shines on you
You can smell the cat food
in all its horsey meatiness
Oh and the beer, the sugary, yeasty, malty, nutritious beer
Let’s go!
A light in the kitchen
Floods the paving stone
As I take my fill
I feel grateful
You think a slug can’t feel grateful?
Well, I do.
I’ve been on my butt for days
Slivering along
It was never ending
I thought I would go mad
So exhausted
But now everything
Just everything is okay
The universe has blessed me for once
me, a lowly working slug
Now after eating and drinking at the door of this
warm generous host, I will have the energy and means to feed my babies
Oh, wait, what’s that?
A bright light at the end of a big steel phallus
And at the end of that
a human
With a packet of something
Looming face.
Long body, legs, arms
Packet upturned
White stuff coming out of it
Is it snow?
It’s coming down
Upon my body.
I stop eating the delicious nutritious cat-food
It…it burns, this snow
Should snow burn?
I look up at the human again
They are smiling
If they’re smiling
It must be okay
But oh, it’s burning
It’s burning so bad
And they’re watching,
Waiting
Looking at me
So creepy
Oh, it burns
It burns so
And then I see
I am turning to liquid
My body is…
Pooling like blood
Oh, what are you doing to me?
Don’t!
Stop!
Please!
I am losing sensation
I look up and they are pouring more
Of what I thought was snowflakes
But now I realise must be a terrible poison
I don’t feel so good
That grin
It’s inside of me
They are
So pleased for my pain
They are happy for it
I’ve never felt pain like this
Help me
It’s agony
I can hear myself scream
Can they hear it?
They are grinning again
Grinning into my soul
Pouring down the snowflakes
the snow keeps pouring down
on my delicate skin
My body is seared
the snow is like acid on my skin
My body is water
The humans are happy
My kids…
I will not see them again
and now the human’s grin
also burns into me
It burns
It burns…
Things In My Head 