Among my favorite poets, Sharon Chmielarz is also an awesome poetry teacher and a friend. She has noticed our puzzle posts as we train for a puzzle competition. Knowing how poetry speaks to us, she sent me this poem by A.E. Stallings, “Jigsaw Puzzle,” in her book Olives. I am grateful for the spontaneous gift of poetry.
First, the four corners,
Then the flat edges.
Assemble the lost orders,
Walk the dizzy edges,
Hoard one color—try
To make it all connected—
The water and the deep sky
And the sky reflected.
Absences align
And lock shape into place,
And random forms combine
To make a tree, a face.
Slowly you restore
The fractured world and start
To re-create an afternoon before
It fell apart:
Here is summer, here is blue,
Here two lovers kissing,
And here the nothingness shows through
Where one piece is missing.