Melissa Strilecki

One Electron Universe Postulate

It began with the multiverse, but strayed
to particle physics. He sends an electron 

careening forward in time. I send back
a positron reversing through space. 

I thought we might learn to sail, old and wind-battered
in Greece. It’s a thought experiment. All of this 

is possible, none of it certain.
Pretend you are the end of time, 

and I am the beginning—One electron
viewed at different points in time. Three 

sand-scoured weeks. A reprieve from divorce
talk, we hit upon particle physics. 

Every particle in every person, the same.
I will learn to tie the knots alone. He can show me 

the equations. I simply loved the poetry.
When the August winds blow, the ropes pull

hard; they blood my hands.

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Melissa Strilecki has been previously published in West Trade Review, Sugar House Review, The Shore and elsewhere. She lives in Seattle.