Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

The pieces are scattered.
The words are here
and there.

The sentences
and lies are scattered.

The truth can be found in the pieces,
but you need to put it together.

What are we?

Are we the pieces brought about
or the whole picture itself?

I can see us as a painting —
so beautiful and free.

Nothing like what everyone wants us to be.

We aren’t forced.
We aren’t pressed.

We are simply scattered among the board.

What we are is scattered —
Parts of us everywhere.

Everywhere I look I see you.

Your eyes and hair.
Your goofy smile and mischievous grin.

I see you everywhere.
With every turn and breath I can see your pieces.

I can see myself fitting,
if I turn just right and force.
I can put myself against you.

We can make a beautiful piece.
We can be what everyone wants us to be.

Maybe it can work,
even if we are scattered.

We can just put the pieces together.
We can make it work.
We can try.

Maybe, if you look closely enough, you can see me too.
See how I stare.

If you see what I see, maybe we can be.
What beautiful artwork, young and free.

 

I love you.

I’ll never speak those words,
because our puzzle hasn’t been completed.

We are still scattered —
pieces on the table,
on the floor.

Can we make it work?
Can we fix it together?

I hope so,

because all of the pain will be with it
once we piece together this puzzle we’ve created.

Please let us work on this picture.
Let us frame this piece as completed.

Mybae others won’t see the pieces we are missing.

Words from the Author – Karly Eagle

This piece isn’t anything new or special. I wrote this months ago when I was trying to sleep but all I could do was think. My mind kept coming back to the idea of a puzzle, and I eventually gave up sleeping to write a first draft of this poem. It’s not about anyone or anything specific. But it’s based on the feeling of seeing a relationship (whether it’s platonic, romantic, or familial) start to drift. It hurts having someone you feel close to start to move on from you. And a feeling that most can relate to is the desperation to fix it. Even if it’s not meant to be fixed. Always trying to keep the bigger picture intact when in reality parts of it have already been lost. At some point in the journey you learn when it’s time to accept it. But this piece isn’t about the feeling of understanding what’s lost is lost. But about the feeling of trying to keep it.

Revision Decision:

As stated before I wrote the first draft when I was extremely tired. I wrote it in my notes app; which isn’t the best when it comes to freedom of writing structure. Luckily this piece wasn’t meant to be intricate or have indents that add more emphasis. I wrote a few more drafts, and even after putting it in a doc I still made changes. Nothing more than tweaking some words or adjusting the phrasing. I tried to keep the focus on the idea of a puzzle without overdoing it or making it seem unnaturally repetitive. I hope I achieved it because I wanted the reader to be able to put themselves in the writing, and relate. Since losing a relationship you cherished is something that most can relate to. Along with main message I wanted something more noticeable about the idea of a puzzle. Specifically a puzzle where some pieces aren’t where they belong, or pieces trying to be put together that simply don’t fit. Which is where the weird spelling of the word ‘Maybe’ in the last line. When I first did it I didn’t know how I felt about it. But after reading the piece altogether, I decided to keep it. I believe it adds some character to the piece, and can be an eyecatcher at the end. Overall I followed a standard creation to make this piece: create multiple drafts, pick parts I like, and toss whatever I don’t see fit.