More about snails, on and off the prairie

On May 7th I went to a surviving piece of the Blackland Prairie in Pflugerville and photographed my first basket-flowers (Plectocephalus americanus) of the season. One of them caught my attention because a two-toned snail had slid all the way up the stalk and onto the flower head’s “basket.”

On May 6th I’d gone to an adjacent part of the property, where snails had also been abundant. On the morning of the 7th I went to get my phone, which was charging right next to my camera bag. Imagine my surprise when I found a snail on the phone’s USB cable. As best I can make out, the snail hitchhiked home on or in my camera bag, then slid out overnight and found its way onto the USB cable.

Now it’s 10 days later.

And the small snail, never moving, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid iPhone cable just above my chamber’s floor;

    And his eyes have all the seeming of a mollusk’s that is dreaming,

    And the light bulb o’er him streaming throws his shadow toward the door;

And that snail from off that cable that lies coiling near the floor

            Shall be lifted—nevermore!

© 2020 Steven Schwartzman