spring rains
slugging along the sidewalks
mud snails
in the dusk
mud snails crawl into the road
broken shells
in the garden
the cat jumps, bats and runs
hunting mud snails
farmer’s delight
mud snails and frog’s legs
in spring time
When I first came to Italy, way back in 1970, we stayed with my first husband’s Aunt in Liguria for a short time. Liguria was once a part of France and one of the things that remained with them is the love of escargot, or snails. After a particularly heavy rain, some friends of Aunt Chicca brought a plate of snails for me that they’d gathered from the fields. I couldn’t refuse to eat at least one, as it would have been bad manners, so I pulled the mayonnaise covered beast from his shell popped him into my mouth washing it down with a glass of white wine. My opinion is that snails should be left to live in the fields … they’re totally disgusting as food.
unwelcome gift
escargot in mayonnaise
for a visitor
© G.s.k. ‘15
Here are some inspiring haiku about mud snails:
hiroinokosu tanishi ni tsuki no yûbe kana
mud-snails:
a few remain uncaught
under the evening moon
© Yosa Buson
sode yogosuran tanishi no ama no hima o nami
with dirty sleeves
farmers-turned-fishermen pick up mud snails
ever so busy
© Matsuo Basho
nuritate no aze wo yurideru tanishi kana
the mud-snail
in the newly-made rice-field bank,
joggles its way out
© Jûjô
nisanjaku hôte tanishi no higurekeri
the mud-snail
crawls two or three feet, –
and the day is over
© Gomei
and a lovely series by our host Chèvrefeuille:
watching a snail
in the light of the full moon
just a silver trail
just a silver trail
points me to the right place
mountain monastery
mountain monastery
finally becoming one
I bow to my master
I bow to my master
Matsuo Basho told me the way
to watch a snail
© Chèvrefeuille
