<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;"><span class="">Salty Like Tears<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><span class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">When my daughter moved away to college<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">was the same week I had to give all our chickens away,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">their sweet voices murmuring in the garden no more<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><span class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">was the same week her friend walked into the mountains of the Pacific Coast Trail and disappeared without a trace.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Our candle vigil burning through the days of packing<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><span class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">was not only the time of our own separation <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">but her dog and my dog, my dog and her, her dog and me,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">our pack now 200 miles apart<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><span class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">And that night I read Ellen Bass’ poem<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">“When You Came Back”,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">and for a moment<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">I felt our lives rewind until you were <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">once again that little magic bean <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">growing inside me.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><span class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Today I sat in a parking lot<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">with a bag of chips,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">thinking how all my life I’ve had a sweet tooth<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">but now I want everything <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">salty like tears. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""><br class=""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Kay Crista</span></p><div class=""><span class=""><br class=""></span></div>
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