Magnetism

“Opposites come together, look at one another, are reflected in one another, know and understand one another.

Love lives on the very border of hate, knows and understands it, and hate lives on the border of love and also understands it.”

- Bakhtin, Characteristics of Genre and Plot Composition in Dostoevsky’s Works

Bakhtin implies there is cordiality between opposites

I don’t think he knows the agony in magnetism

I found the beginning of the universe in the radio 

the same day I met my opposite:

in the second of bleary static between stations

like the universe had a moment of hesitation 

in choosing whether it wanted to stay

I found the beginning of a new universe

when I met my opposite

and the jagged border running along my heart suddenly ran even

A second of hesitation— but I chose to stay 

by the border. My opposite looked at me and seemed to understand

but perhaps he was afraid of the proximity because

He ripped himself away

abruptly

and I found the end to our universe

A smaller one began in my body 

where my restless mind and aching heart meet

They are mesmerized, terrified 

by each other’s pull

My heart needs to move on

and my mind needs to stop moving 

so frantically, searching for the reason

why didn’t he choose me too?