The snail that stopped the traffic

had no idea what work means
mortgage, debt, paycheque
- words unheard of

to speed seemed silly
since festina lente is nature\'s way

it only knew a few verbs
to be, to eat, to crawl
and was about to propose a new verb
to write

if only it could reach the park
on the other highway side
where the academic snail community
crept

so, it first ate the green from
the stoplight
and crawled back to curb

much aware of the adverb late
and that the leaf tied to its shell
might dry out

with the poem written on it



Bywords Quarterly Journal, December 2009, Ottawa