Jigsaw Puzzle

A jigsaw puzzle lies in disarray.
She struggles to find the frame’s straight edges,
boundaries turned flip-side up and dark gray,
box with the picture stolen by Grinches.
Still, she pushes shapes together misfit,
forces from memory ways that won’t work.
Weirdo pieces fit somewhere, says wiz kid,
by fate’s accident or foible or quirk.
But the picture is lost, the vision, gone.
There’s a corner, but it’s too late to turn.
Try one more; guidelines are nil, orders—none.
She lies down to rest, but never to mourn.
The colors blend into distant white light.
The puzzle is solved; she fought the good fight.

— deelilah, Mar 14, 2009

About This Poem

About the Author

Region, Country: Northwest USA, USA

Favorite Poets: E.E. Cummings, Robert W. Service, Emily Dickenson

Critiques

barbsdad2003

17 years 2 months ago

Brings to ...

my willing mind memories of puzzlecraftin' on a rickety ol' card table at family gatherings ... while I was yet a child. My mother's mother loved jigsaw puzzles, infected me with the same or similar feeling. Nothing much beats the feeling of finally getting it together. And of course a beautiful (and apt) metaphor for life's other things. Thanx, Chuck PS: Appreciate you got "lies" right. Too many think it's "lays" when it's "lies." I assume "wiz" stands for "wizard" in this context. A pet peeve of mine that flies in the face of conventional wisdom: In the case of "But the picture is lost, the vision, gone," I prefer, against many who consider themselves authoritative, "But the picture is lost, the vision gone." In other words, I'd leave out the comma after "vision." But that's me. (My wife happens to agree with my take on it, which lends credence to my stand, maybe a bit more than what others may grant.) Nice write, this.

deelilah

17 years 2 months ago

Thank you Chuck

About the comma, I think your version looks better--not too sure on the grammar question. Commas drive me crazy--but in poetry the less, the better. Wiz kid would be the puzzler who once thought they had all the answers and now realizes they probably had few. It's fun to get a puzzle done--but wouldn't it just be the pits if you didn't have the picture to follow? Thanks for your input. I'm glad you liked it. Deelilah

Stella

17 years 2 months ago

I, too, had visions of

I, too, had visions of myself lying down on the floor in my childhood living room with one of these.... You've put so many wonderful metaphors in this one Dee. I feel that 'Weirdo pieces fit somewhere, says wiz kid' stands out as the key line as well as 'she lies down to rest, never to mourn'. The ending is satisfying, as is solving a puzzle ... On a different note it reminds me of the Rolling Stones song which keeps playing in my head now ; ) ~Stella

deelilah

17 years 2 months ago

Thanks Stella

I love puzzles, but nearly never take the time to finish them; this is probably the most frustrating. It's always the picture on the cover that attracts me. For a long time, we ran a food service for a retirement home. Before the administration got kind of stuck up, the people there would put these 5000 piece puzzles together, glue them somehow, and hang them on the wall. Maybe not the most proper wall art, but they got satisfaction. Thank you for reading and commenting. Yours, Deelilah