My five year old daughter

teaches me the differences of species.

Daddy, she says,

Slugs are the ones without the shell.

Those that have shells are called snails, not slugs.

I don´t say anything, I know.

I have always just scamped around.

Later in the evening

my wife gets angry about a poem published seven years before.

Her mother is also very upset now, she says.

I don´t say anything to her too,

I am thinking of snails & slugs.

Even though they are of different species

they have a lot in common:

They are both disgusting pests

that leave a long lasting slimy trail.

Poem by Kalle Niinikangas (Finland)

Published in Issue 35 of The Ofi Press.