Alluvium

Salt-laden, that sediment,

it sinks in—

embedding itself deep

within our psyches.

Like grains of sand or glitter,

there’s just no getting it all out.

Six months later,

an inevitable granule

makes itself known

in the weave of your black pants

worn to your niece’s princess-themed party

last spring—was it?—

or rubbed inadvertently

into the corner of your eye

by the towel taken to the beach

on August’s hottest weekend.

Perhaps, it’s that

which accounts

for the weight

of the soul.