Mating Rituals of Leopard Slugs

[Cate]

Revision 1 (g rated version) -
please feel free to make suggestions (Thank you to Imaginary friend for phallus, maybe my slugs should be hes and not shes)

She tracks the viscous trail.
Her antenna searching,
scanning the ground for a musty
scent; a map to ancient games.
She tastes the route and glides
over dirt and leaves; up bark
to the highest branch.
She tags her spotted
companion with a nip.
A soft bite which is returned
and returned again. A slow
moving mouth searches her body.
Deliberately, methodically they wrap
themselves into each other,
and drop.
... Held only by
a thread
lovers continue to entwine.
Shadows switch sides as
From within each a phallus
virgins out and spins into it's
mate forming a flower challis
that will complete their ritual.
With a last gentle nip she
falls away from from her lover
and returns her life of green.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


original

She tracks the viscous trail
laid down by one hoping for love,
her scent a map to hoary games.
Chasing her over moldy leaves and dirt
she tags her with a nip,
then a soft bite which is returned
and returned again.
They climb to the highest peak
wrap themselves in each other
and d
~~~ r
~~~ o
~~~ p, ~ held only by
a thread of slime.
From within her body an inner organ
virgins out, mirrored by her lubricious lover
a new way to touch again.
They continue to entwine this new limb,
which they flatten and spin
into a flower that will be pollinated by both
before they fall away from each other
and return to a life of eating green.

[imaginary friend]

Damn,
I thought slugs were supposed to move verrrryyyyy slowwwlyyyyy Cate! so I didn't rush to tell you that I really liked (the new word I learned) 'lugubrious' (I think that was it), and now the poem has vanishhhhhedddddd... leaving me feeling a little lugubrious myself.

[Cate]

Hi I.F. they're coming back (I''m a bit fixated on them), I'm just kinda all over the place with my revisions which like the slugs are going very, very slowly - I was just going to slip it back in. I occasionally remove my babbling, but I try not to remove poems as one I don't like will force me to eventually come back a practice revisions.

lugubrious ... that's a good word, just looked it up.

My word was lubricious but I had it paired with lover - lubricious lover which might be overkill on the l sounds

lubricious
adj 1: having a smooth or slippery quality; "the skin of
cephalopods is thin and lubricious"
2: characterized by lust; "eluding the lubricious embraces of
her employer"; "her sensuous grace roused his lustful
nature"; "prurient literature"; "prurient thoughts"; "a
salacious rooster of a little man" [syn: lustful, prurient,
salacious]

[lizzytysh]

I was so excited, as Sheila told me in New York that you had actually written a poem on your slugs! I just got to down here and no poem . Reading the rest, I see why... but such a disappointment it was... looking forward to their return. Ironically, I first read your title as "Mating Rituals of Leonard Slugs." Hmm. How might those vary?


~ Lizzy

[mnkyface]

Ironically, I first read your title as "Mating Rituals of Leonard Slugs." Hmm. How might those vary?


~ Lizzy

I read it as Leonard too. Actually, even worse, I read it as "Mating Rituals of Leonard Sings." lol

Happy belated birthday, btw!

[lizzytysh]

Thank you, Mnkyface ! To find this so unexpectedly here...

Now, back to the poem, which is funnier still... except really quite accurate, when you think of it... Mating Rituals of Leonard Sings. I feel better knowing I wasn't alone in my misread.

okay slugs are asking me to stop as it's getting painful...
I don't know what to call their penises yet - arm is odd, penis sounds boring , organ's coming out sounds, well... concerning,
below is still original not edited - the word pollinate will defn. go

Priceless, Cate! I laughed out loud as I read this.

Your still-being-edited poem has some really wonderful things going on with it... and I love how they return to a life of eating green.

Looking forward to your finished product. Your asides are worth their weight in gold.


~ Lizzy

[Cate]

Leopard - Leonard

Oh no, do you think my slug fixation is just some odd messed up continuation of my Leonard fixation -ahhh man.

The big difference of course being that slugs are gross disgusting creatures, capable of exceptional beauty and Leonard is just beautiful.

[imaginary friend]

From within each an arm(?)
virgins out, and searches for its mate.
They envelop each other, press in
and spin like a cork screw(?) ....

From within each a phallus (? eeeww, sounds too floppy)
virgins out, searching for its mate.
They envelop each other, thrust*
and spin in their hypnotic dance...

The slugs have me in thrall. I lead such a boring life.

* Sue is bound to jump in at 'press in'... suggest 'thrust' instead...ha ha