periwinkles
Barragga Bay, Australia - November 2019Periwinkles, these tiny black sea snails that form constellations in shallow waters, were some of the main protagonists of my youth by the Mediterranean shores. The ones I faced on the other side of the planet did not bear many differences, perhaps were they even identical - mirrored molluscs from another hemisphere. The tidal pool above which I leaned was a busy one: a plethora of periwinkles were neighboured by crabs, anemones and gigantic sea slugs. I listened to the pool’s bed for a while hoping that it would inhabit a noisy occupant until a peculiar scratching sound emerged. I was wrong - the local sea snails were indeed different than the ones from my childhood: they were the first to speak to me.
