slugfest
raze
every
day
is
a
fight
against
the
loss
of
faith
, fuelled
by
desire
in
the
featureless
face
of
irrefutable
failure
.
i
lace
up
my
gloves
, slather
scar
tissue
with
soft
paraffin
,
and
ready
myself
to
trade
blows
with
a
hulking
beast
hellbent
on
breaking
me
down
.
the
rules
of
the
game
are
clear
:
no
one
walks
away
with
their
soul
intact
.
it
won't
be
the
first
time
i've
blinked
back
blood
and
swallowed
my
own
spit
while
telling
myself
it's
as
good
as
any
water
stolen
straight
from
the
wellspring.
251226
...
ovenbird
It
appears
that
the
gastropod
version
of
Woodstock
is
going
on
in
my
backyard
.
A
very
rainy
December
turned
the
lawn
and
garden
into
a
mud
slick
and
I
’m
not
sure
so
many
slugs
have
ever
gathered
in
one
place
before
.
I
assume
they
’re
having
the
time
of
their
lives
.
Every
time
my
dog
goes
out
to
pee
the
slugs
dare
each
other
to
hitch
a
ride
,
so
my
poor
puppy
keeps
coming
inside
with
slime-sticky
molluscs
tangled
in
his
fur.
He
is
very
distressed
by
this
and
will
hold
up
his
paw
to
show
me
the
disgusting
interlopers.
The
extraction
process
doesn’t tend
to
go
well
for
the
slugs.
I
can
only
assume
that
they
’re
high
when
they
agree
to
climb
aboard
the
flanks
of
an
eighteen
pound schnauzer.
Three
slugs
have
now
died
as
a
result
of
this
.
You
’d
think
the
rest
would
notice
that
their
friends
never
come
back
,
but
I
don’t
get
the
sense
that
the
slugs
are
very
smart
.
Anyway
,
they
’re
too
busy
listening
to
the
extraordinary musical stylings
of
The
Snowdrops
and
The
Hummingbirds
while
gorging themselves
on
leaf
litter
to
pay
any
attention
to
the
horrific deaths
of
their
kin.
I
’ve
thought
of
sprinkling
the
yard
with
eggshells
as
a
deterrent
but
there
are
so
many
I
doubt
it
would
put
a
dent
in
the
problem
,
and
who
am
I
to
say
that
their
unappealing
lives
aren’t
worth
something
.
So
I
leave
them
to
slime
their
way
into
another
day
, radulas tasting
the
dark
loamy
earth
, pneumostomes
finding
what
oxygen
is
left
in
this
waterless
ocean
.
260105
what's it to you?
who
go
blather
from
