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© 2010 Alexandra Pasian Alexandra Pasian is a freelance writer and professor living with her family in Montreal. Her work has appeared in Arc, CV2, Event, and The Fiddlehead.

 

The Snail Succumbs to the Slope of the Balcony.

Despite his best efforts he lists
to the west, veers toward the sharp edge.

Surely, he'll go the way of bubble wands,
Lego pieces, plastic cups. His brittle shell

cracking as it smashes the brick.
But there will be a time, however brief,

as he falls the three stories, with wind
in his face, his body's thick slime dry

from the air rushing past, heart racing, pounding out
ancient rhythms buried deep in him; a cellular memory

of the first ancestor that crept from the ocean
to breathe the air, fill its lungs with the same breath

the snail gasps for as he falls with sudden exhilaration.
Oh the exhilaration! Maybe I should help him along.

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