Jigsaw

By RC deWinter

There'll be no
folding, spindling, mutilating
of this woman anymore.
No bending corners to fit another's frame.

Do you want me?

Then, we, together, must define our board.
You bring your needs, your wants, your dreams
and I'll bring mine.
We'll sit together and lay the pieces down
to check the fit.

And if they don't – say, your sharp corners
won't slide into spaces where I curve,
or my pentaculars disrupt your checkerboard –
then it's not meant to be. And that's okay.

Free to find another whose pattern is a match,
we’ll walk away unbloodied, our pieces still intact.

RC deWinter’s poetry is widely anthologized, notably in New York City Haiku (Universe/NY Times,  2/2017), New Contexts 2 (Coverstory Books, 9/2021) Now We Heal: An Anthology of Hope, (Wellworth Publishing, 12/2020) in print in 2River, Event Magazine, Gargoyle Magazine, Genre Urban Arts, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, the minnesota review, Night Picnic Journal, Plainsongs, Prairie Schooner, San Antonio Review, The Ogham Stone, Southword, Twelve Mile Review, Yellow Arrow Journal, The York Literary Review among others and appears in numerous online literary journals.  She’s also a one of winners of the 2021 Connecticut Shakespeare Festival Sonnet Contest, anthology publication forthcoming.