The snakes are writhing, they thrill
to the sound of you calling out ‘darling’
and ‘baby’, words you no longer mean.
They sluice the bogwater flooding
the ditch between us. They glide
on silted escape routes. By mid-morning
they made their way across
the path and slimed our wall: a slash
of colour on our grey, a purple bruise
of Botoxed lip. Our bodies oozing
slush, I step into the naked squelch
of their needs. Salt the wounds.
The quiet assassination.
The bystanders of our rot.
Veronicelloidea is a superfamily of air-breathing land slugs. Salt kills slugs by dehydrating them rapidly.
I am linking this up to my favourite poetry site dVerse Poets Pub, which is back with renewed va-va-voom after the summer break. Can you believe it’s the 200th edition of their Open Link Night?
findingtimetowrite 
Good heavens. That is powerful. And wrenching
This one really is haunting, Marina Sofia. Really powerful stuff!
Ouch!
Evocative.
Interesting perspective on nature reflecting the problems a couple experiences.
Yikes–the opening line set the tone for this. Dang little slugs that eat my hostas. My meek little mother used to make rounds with the salt to wipe out the poor creatures. So out of character for her.
A gardener’s nightmare, I agree. I quite like snails, but cannot bear slugs!
The opening tone was creepy, scary. Without knowing what the fancy title means, I was thinking of a relationship that ended nastily. I don’t say I was relieved to see the photos of the slugs at the bottom of the post – I get goosebumps by just imagining their slime. Ewe!
Very well written, Marina. 🙂
That’s a strong metaphor for a relationship gone south… !
This stings.
Disturbing.
When you mentioned snakes I didn’t know what to think! Then I knew you were talking about slugs…those slimy buggers that like to eat our lovely plants and leave trails of goo after themselves. Yuck! Long ago, I was guilty of salting them myself but I don’t think I could do it today as much as I dislike them.
Beautifully haunting!