"We put the puzzle together piece
by piece, loving how one curved
notch fits so sweetly with another.
A yellow smudge becomes
the brush of a broom, and two blue arms
fill in the last of the sky.
We patch together porch swings and autumn
trees, matching gold to gold. We hold
the eyes of deer in our palms, a pair
of brown shoes. We do this as the child
circles her room, impatient
with her blossoming, tired
of the neat house, the made bed,
the good food. We let her brood
as we shuffle through the pieces,
setting each one into place with a satisfied
tap, our backs turned for a few hours
to a world that is crumbling, a sky
that is falling, the pieces
we are required to return to."
Laux, Dorianne. "Break". Awake. U of Arkansas, 2001. Print.
Laux uses an extended metaphor to lament the feelings of adults and elders on the subject of changing times. The adults (parents, grandparents, etc.) invest time and effort into putting the "puzzle" of life together, creating and providing a home for their children, and trying to make the world suitable for their prosperity. But as their children grow up, they become unsatisfied with the life their parents and grandparents have set out for them. They lose appreciation for what their elders have given them, and long for something else. Old values and conventions are torn apart by the youth of society, and the adults are left to wonder how to put the pieces back together, how to return peace and order to a world that has broken its order. The elders know that there is no way to keep their children, or the world, from changing, and see this as primarily a bad thing, something that creates a level of cultural instability, which they've spent their whole lives fighting against. The poem seems almost like an appreciation, or an appeal for more appreciation, of our elders. In the poem, the adults wait patiently while the child goes through a phase of disdainful and unappreciative attitudes. The adults have their "backs turned...to a world that is crumbling," because they "are required" to return to their pieces, their way of making sense of the world and creating order, because it is the only thing they know. The poem seems to ask young people to look less scornfully on our parents' "dated," conservative behaviors and understand that they mean well and are from a different time.
by piece, loving how one curved
notch fits so sweetly with another.
A yellow smudge becomes
the brush of a broom, and two blue arms
fill in the last of the sky.
We patch together porch swings and autumn
trees, matching gold to gold. We hold
the eyes of deer in our palms, a pair
of brown shoes. We do this as the child
circles her room, impatient
with her blossoming, tired
of the neat house, the made bed,
the good food. We let her brood
as we shuffle through the pieces,
setting each one into place with a satisfied
tap, our backs turned for a few hours
to a world that is crumbling, a sky
that is falling, the pieces
we are required to return to."
Laux, Dorianne. "Break". Awake. U of Arkansas, 2001. Print.
Laux uses an extended metaphor to lament the feelings of adults and elders on the subject of changing times. The adults (parents, grandparents, etc.) invest time and effort into putting the "puzzle" of life together, creating and providing a home for their children, and trying to make the world suitable for their prosperity. But as their children grow up, they become unsatisfied with the life their parents and grandparents have set out for them. They lose appreciation for what their elders have given them, and long for something else. Old values and conventions are torn apart by the youth of society, and the adults are left to wonder how to put the pieces back together, how to return peace and order to a world that has broken its order. The elders know that there is no way to keep their children, or the world, from changing, and see this as primarily a bad thing, something that creates a level of cultural instability, which they've spent their whole lives fighting against. The poem seems almost like an appreciation, or an appeal for more appreciation, of our elders. In the poem, the adults wait patiently while the child goes through a phase of disdainful and unappreciative attitudes. The adults have their "backs turned...to a world that is crumbling," because they "are required" to return to their pieces, their way of making sense of the world and creating order, because it is the only thing they know. The poem seems to ask young people to look less scornfully on our parents' "dated," conservative behaviors and understand that they mean well and are from a different time.
The idea and theme of the poem is something universally understood, yet it is presented in such a concise, contemporary, and uniquely metaphorical way that it does not come across as tiresome or cliche. (Which is why I chose the poem.)
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