American Life in Poetry

What motivates us to keep moving forward through our lives, despite all the effort required to do so?

Here, North Carolina poet Ruth Moose attributes human characteristics to an animal to speculate upon what that force might be.

The Crossing

The snail at the edge of the road

inches forward, a trim gray finger

of a fellow in pinstripe suit.

He’s burdened by his house

that has to follow

where he goes. Every inch,

he pulls together

all he is,

all he owns,

all he was given.

The road is wide

but he is called

by something

that knows him

on the other side.