SEX LIVES OF LEOPARD SLUGS
Drawn by a scent,
a body without bone—
move with the ease of silk.
Upward, slugs seek
an overhang.
Hermaphrodite contortionists
spin on a rope of mucous.
Entwined, dangling aerialists in courtship.
The intrusive mind, endless swing
as if overtaken by a current.
Optical tentacles, skirt and mouth,
fringe against foot, press
in a knot that spins.
The penis is in the slug’s head:
they both evert a phallus and tangle.
It can take hours
to unwind the appendages.
They drop like a seed
to its place on the earth.
From Proof (DC Books, 2014) by Larissa Andrusyshyn
