Jigsaw
by J.M. Romig, Amanda Whitlock, and Ryan P. Kinney
The first time I watched a man die
It wasn’t a man anymore, they told me
Just like my mother wasn’t my mother anymore
I will never forget the wrong answer
And the empty hours
When the minute hand was always longer
I often welcome sleepwalking through most of the week
In the few instances the machines malfunction
I curse being awakened
I don’t see how anyone
Can smoke at a time like this
When the air is so heavy
It’s like breathing cement
I’m in stressed and panicked misery
And I’m vomiting
Lots and lots of stuff
That stretches vast
And expands to eat up everything
The guilt of my sin
The heft of your innocence
Weighs heavily on my soul
As i drag you down with me
Her lit cigarette burns
So brightly from the porch
Against the darkness
It reminds me of a lighthouse
Or a bug zapper
And what is that moth doing there anyways?
People are trying to sleep
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2Zvg9-fnw0
This was part of a project called Jigsaw, where several poets deconstructed pieces of their various works and recombined them into another work. Below is the description for the project. If you wish to participate, please message me or leave a comment.
Jigsaw involves taking pieces of several writer's poems and arranging and working them into a new piece. Patchwork is a similar concept where each writer in a group come up with one stanza (of varying themes) and the whole group works the piece together. Jigsaw is pre-existing content recreated into a new piece and Patchwork is original content. Both projects involve a whole group of writers working a new piece together.