history of love in salt

we've become strangers.

we had tears saved in tiny corked bottles,
labeled: hesitation, jealousy, lust, desperation, love.
but even the tears have evaporated,
leaving behind tiny crystal reminders.

a toppled salt shaker lies tipped on its side between us.
translucent pieces of geometric cubic perfection, pulverized.
the grist mill’s final product covers the table, stubbornly staying
though we’re aching to leave.

despite awkward messages--
late night conversations--
our hopes have gone awry.

twinings of negative and positive ions overlap, outstretch:
giving, taking
unbalanced, needy when detached
yet totally stable when connected.
 
The crystal lattice balks at us.

    *    *    * 

"No, I do not think of you,
but I have called to hear your voice."
 
the tiny white particles glimmer, unmoving
silence prevails between us.
oppressive, yet liberating
the moment is a trellis, weaving in and out of memory
futures forgiven and pasts forsaken

my heart beats irregularly, flutters:
arrhythmia
the cause a cardio stutter sometimes attributed to a lack of ions,
like those found in sodium chloride.
that perfect balance created from instability.

intertwined, interconnected,
the two seemingly polar opposites
know exactly what they need
know exactly what they give
this simple yet perfect ionic bond
recoils from our unstable, disconnected presence.

--Nikki Shull