Poetry by Valerie Valente
Snails line the slick pavement
like a stagnant post-office queue
They probe the damp air
with gelatinous horns
as if they would enact
a slo-mo battle with the mist
I veer gingerly around them
as they forage in scattered directions,
blindly heading
someplace else
My eyes scrunch tight and I grimace
as I hear the inevitable
crunch of my misstep
A wayward journey swiftly ended
by the grime-laden sole of my shoe.
I pause to contemplate
my habitual direction,
a path so repetitiously followed
that my muscle-memory
just pulls me along
I point my face skywards,
feel the mist upon my cheeks,
and reverently turn towards
the silver moon’s beacon
With a tentative step
I abandon all direction,
blindly heading
someplace else
Valerie Valente’s first love was poetry; she has been writing since the age of nine. Valerie has self-published two children’s stories. She is now launching a creative writing workshop business, Kist Creative, which she hopes will expose people to the joyful, therapeutic benefits of tapping into their imaginative energies.
