Poetry Bug

I

Place this piece of the puzzle where you will
and I will try not to laugh too loudly
when it clashes with the pieces around it.

Resist the temptation to reshape it
to cut off the corners or glue on extra curves.

Let it lie gently, overlapping with the budding flower here
and disguising the bird’s curious gaze there.

Be satisfied with the empty gaps
where the green of the tablecloth shows through.

(I left the holes there for your imagination to fill in)

II

A jumble of color of shapes of images to sift through:

Will you go about it by choosing only those you need?
Or will you consider each one equally and give them each their place?

Some may slip and disappear; how may they be replaced?

Others will tangle together, out of anger or out of fear
To separate may hurt them, to not may make them useless

How will you go about it?

With patience for the process
Or with readiness for the results?

III

A full picture may be before me
but all I see are the cracks in between
the pieces
the cracks
the lines
the fissures
the divisions

a piece meeting another piece
and by pushing against each other with equal force
(holding onto each other dispassionately)
being locked into
a web
a network
a system
a structure
of pushing and holding

building a well-groomed, make-upped and posed snapshot
of glossy-finished, cardboard-backed and boxed, 1000 pieces, 12 inches
x 14 inches unity

Rhyme?
Why do you wish to slaughter your words?
Breathe free, breathe fearless, breathe still.
The mighty wind will not jostle on a tune
Nor will it stop to a dot on a line
It will flow fully without boundaries.

So why do you wish to rhyme or swallow
The very words which could frolic in the wind?
Lighten the heart of a poor passing stranger,
Or thrive on the mind of a listening child.
So speak free, speak fearless, speak still.

Breathe without a path, without a rhythm.
Live without a meaning, without a rhyme.
For when you mold your speeches for beauty,
You crease your thoughts as prisoners,
Languishing in a cell that never grows.

Shout out the bars that you are wasting in.
Scream for the freedom you were wishing for.
For when the sun has set, the winds will ride on.
When the day has come, you will live on.
When your time has gone, you will speak on.