i.
start with the corners.
edged pieces come next,
until the void
gets framed.
then the hard part,
working with shades
of colors
that form an eye
or crooked smile
in flaming red,
often needing to turn
a troublesome piece
three-hundred-sixty
degrees until it snaps
into place.
or refuses to fit.
ii.
as a kid, i found
jigsaws tedious and could
barely sit still
rummaging
through a jumble
of random bits
with key fragments
seemingly misplaced,
an odd assortment
of lost puzzles
all mixed up
and impossible to sort.
now i’m older, flecks
of gray
at the temples
and salting my beard,
the past littered
with missteps
and what-might-have-beens
strewn behind,
my life a cracked
container
and no way to grasp
what was dropped
or gained
along the way,
with too many blanks
left to fill.
