I love you is a band aid

Jack Ludkey

All my slugs escaped in the night

I see the slime trails on the glass

But I can’t find them

There’s only one left now

There’s one at the bottom of the jar

 

He’s very important now

I tricked him with stale beer and

a leftover rose the color of a scab

He overslept the escape

 

The other slugs tried to wake him but he wouldn’t budge

His friends went on without him

And at the rim they looked back at him

with their long slug eyes

 

maybe he’s dead down there

maybe he died of loneliness

maybe he died drowning

maybe he didn’t care for freedom

 

the greatest freedom of all

 

I love you is something you can’t take back

I love you can trap infection

A wound can need light

and dry dry air

I love you can fix something that is very broken

For a while at least

 
 

Jack Ludkey is a NYC based writer, director and poet.  

He is originally from Madison, Wisconsin. 

His work can be found in Expat Press, The Drunken Canal and Spectra Poets. 

His debut poetry collection "All I Can Say" will be out later this year when everything cools down.

@highwaysnobbery