The Snail Tapper by Charles Darnell

Photo by Krzysztof Niewolny on UnsplashThe Snail Tapper

Charles Darnell

To walk the Leon Creek Trail
Is a muggy slog today.
The clouds press down,
Mist hangs in the air,
Sweat clings already
To the hair on my neck.
I think of life as more precious
Knowing my own is on the back end.
I do my best to avoid injury
To even the smallest of creatures,
Believing their lives as meaningful
As mine.
I find myself looking down
Where I place my feet
so not to crush the insects
Crawling across the trail.

It was just yesterday
I learned, even with the best
Intentions, to pick a snail off
The path while it makes its way
Across causes injury to its slimy foot.
The best technique to save them
From crushing is to first tap
Their shell.
The startle reflex causes the foot
To be drawn into protection.

I find myself pausing,
Tapping little white shells,
Watching these mundane creatures
Retreat into their mobile homes.
I pick them up, toss them off
The concrete, saving small lives,
Maybe mine too.

Charles Darnell is a poet living in San Antonio, Texas. He is a member of the Maverick Poetry Group. His work has appeared in many literary journals, magazines, and anthologies, including most recently, The Ocotillo Review, The Texas Poetry Calendar,  Equinox Journal, and The Waco Wordfest Anthology. His chapbook, Water, Tongues, Earth, and Blood was published by Finishing Line Press in 2018, and his full-length collection, Toward Human, was published by Kallisto Gaia Press in 2022.