Paul Jones’ poetry has been published in Poetry, Red Fez, and Southern Review, as well as in several anthologies including Best American Erotic Poems (1800 – Present). Recently, he was nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and two  Best of the Web Awards. His chapbook is What the Welsh and Chinese Have in Common. A manuscript of his poems crashed on the moon’s surface April 11, 2019. 

Hear the author read this poem below:

Slugs
By Paul Jones

They are so unlovely and unloved.
They do not move like ships exactly,
nor will they ever prance horse-like

or rise up, or even dart or swoop
as butterflies or bees or birds do.
Yet they climb on the thinnest edges.

Beautiful rainbows, they leave behind,
mark their happy midnight travels.
The dew is so impressed that it stands

apart so that their paths might glow
without decoration. They swirl
never revealing their true ends.

One came across the axe blade left out
overnight. Her silk slime was still
on the cutting edge this morning.

I would almost rather be cold
than let my need for work and heat
disturb her careful highway of joy.