Saline

You might have seen this one before - it was one of the pieces I tried to win a popularity contest with. I never did hear back on how it went - but thank you all for your support! Honestly, just the warmth with which my appeal was received made me realize how blessed I was - and that's way better than any cash prize I could have received. So thank you. I mean it.

If you've never seen this before - welcome aboard, and enjoy!

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If you are bread

I don't want to be your butter

For then I couldn't be jam

Or PB or cheese or any other thing

That works just as well

If you are coffee

I don't want to be your donut

For then I couldn't be chocolate

Or ice cream or waffles-

And they do the trick as well

If you are hummus

I don't want to be your pita

For then I couldn't be celery

Or falafel, or tahini-

That can easily fill that space

And if you are milk

That's right-

I don't want to be your cookie

For then I couldn't be cereal

Or a brownie or cake

But you're not an old loaf

Or a hot comforting drink

You're the universe of flavor

A complete and splendid mix

And for everything that that means…

I'd like to be your salt

With all my flaws I know I'm far from perfect

Take one fair chance though and we could just work

I can be rough and coarse to touch

And on my own I can't do much

But with nothing else available on hand

You know I'll always be enough

There's almost nowhere I wouldn't fit in

Almost nothing I couldn't improve

And plain and boring as I might be

There's no place on Earth you won't find me

Even if I can get a little excessive

That's not an issue that can't be fixed

And while it's true that I could easily kill

Without me there would be no life

Born from the oceans all so mighty

I'd weather any storm with you

And you can trust that faced with acid

I'd burn myself so you don't

Yeah, I'm okay with salt

I just want to be irreplaceable.

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As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this piece :)

PC: Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash