Snail Race
From the book My Hippo Has the Hiccups
Two smug and sluggish snails one day
were racing down the street.
The first exclaimed, “You’ll lose this race,
for I cannot be beat.”
The second said, “I think we’ll see
it’s you who comes in last.”
He bragged, “of all the snails in town
I’m fastest of the fast.”
The first replied, “you’re much too slow
to best the likes of me.”
The second gloated heartily.
“Just wait,” he said, “you’ll see.”
They inched along the roadway
as they boasted of their speed.
Their slowness was identical
and neither took the lead.
The two approached the finish
at the same unhurried pace
a half an inch away from
the conclusion of the race.
They never crossed the finish line
for as events transpired
a car drove by that moment
and they must have gotten tired.
— Kenn Nesbitt
Copyright © 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Reading Level: Grade 4
Topics: Animal Poems, Sports
Poetic Techniques: Dialogue, Irony, Narrative Poems, Pun Poems, Superlatives
Word Count: 138
From the book My Hippo Has the Hiccups
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