Adelaide B. Shaw

What Fits

In a moment of madness, I buy a puzzle depicting The Great Wave, the woodblock print designed by Hokusai. I clear off the dining room table and begin to sift through the pieces looking for the flat-sided edges. More light is needed. I place a floor lamp next to the table.

After several days, with some help from my daughter, I have the frame completed. The cartouche in the upper left corner is next. Slow progress, but progress. Done. Onto the skiff in the lower right. With help, that is done, almost.

Then. . . a stall, pause, stoppage, no progress. White space, blue waves, splashes, curly lines. dots, all the same, same, same, but each different. Different in shape, different in design. 

a jigsaw puzzle
a thousand pieces to join
a lifetime’s work
to find the right connections
and make them fit

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About the Author

Adelaide B. Shaw lives in Somers, NY  She has been creating Japanese poetic forms for fifty years. Her books, An Unknown Road and The Distance I’ve Come, are available on Amazon. She posts published work on her White Petals Blog.