From Magpie Tales #53

Making Sea Salt

I watch you work

in the blistering sun,

steam from the salt pans

nudging tendrils of escaped hair

into curls. Your wet skirt clings to

the curve of your thigh;

I taste salt at the nape of your neck

where your hand has carelessly brushed.

 *Note: In ancient times, salt girls held the job of boiling seawater down for the salt. Some cursory research showed that sea salt was obtained by diluting the brine of the sea by evaporation, largely accomplished by the sun. The concentrated slurry of salt, sand, and mud was scraped up and washed clean with seawater to settle the impurities. The brine was poured into shallow pans lightly baked from local clay and set over a peat fire for the final evaporation. The dried salt was then scraped out and sold.