Written on 9 January 2012; published on 31 December 2018; republished on 16 December 2020

Image: “Trees and Sky,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2012, CC BY-SA 4.0, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com ..

Image: “Trees and Sky,” by Alice B. Clagett, 2012, CC BY-SA 4.0, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com .. 

CALIFORNIA SNAIL
A Poem by Alice B. Clagett
9 January 2012

The world is trussed up in a tiny place
like a snail that’s pulled deep into its shell
and sealed itself off from the dry summer days
–blind to the vast blue bowl of the sky
–blind to the budding flower
—and dappled shade
–tingling, in the faintest, muffled way,
to the chirrup of towhee,
the scolding of squirrels,
and the crinkle krunch that the driveway makes
as a home-wending father’s starburst joy
sings the lyric last lines of his working day.

Image: “Dad’s Boots 1,” adapted and compiled by Alice B. Clagett, 9 May 2021, CC BY-SA 4.0, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com … CREDIT: From a photo by the late Hugh C. Clagett in 1948.

Image: “Dad’s Boots 1,” adapted and compiled by Alice B. Clagett, 9 May 2021, CC BY-SA 4.0, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com … CREDIT: From a photo by the late Hugh C. Clagett in 1948.

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–from Link: “California Snail,” a poem by Alice B. Clagett, written on 9 January 2012; published on 31 December 2018; republished on 16 December 2020 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-l32 ..

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Alice B. Clagett

Except where otherwise noted, “The Chalice and the Crucible” by Alice B. Clagett … https://chaliceandcrucible.com/ … is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0) … https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ..