Your Puzzle
With each puzzle piece found, the puzzler gets a little hit of dopamine, which soothes the brain, and this reward then climaxes with the puzzle’s completion. Patrick K. Porter
Unless it tips over and slides off the table
like the one you did last week. The rug covered with
clumps of joined sections, upside-down or not.
The completed puzzle.
What it’s like to tap the last piece in:
your flight—the intercontinental jet—landing
the tie breaking basket in the last 2 seconds
all lottery numbers matching your ticket
your long-lost somebody appearing at the door
Almost as good: a cluster of yes pieces that all fit together
after no in every corner and no in the middle, here, here, and here.
The key to connectivity is room lighting,
microscopic notice of each color and shape
then standing back and looking. Patience.
1000 separate shapes in piles. Each one necessary.
You work for order in that chaos.
Edge pieces come in first.
Each puzzle piece is part of a larger picture.
Your life, all life is joined in puzzling connectivity.
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When I was at Jentel Artist Residency there were 6 of us artists and writers.We would spend the day creating, and at night after dinner at least 4 of us would work on a jigsaw puzzle. Relief and accomplishment, clear solution. All finished. Gentle sociability.
My friend Polly passed away two years ago this February. During the February anniversary of her death, I borrowed one of her beautiful wooden puzzles from her husband to honor her. I soon discovered I only had half, that it was a 2-box Liberty Puzzle of 894 pieces, so I asked for the second box and probably put in about 60 hours before it slid off the surface and dissolved into hundreds of pieces on the rug. I was laughing, as she would have.
Today I’m about 3 days into “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt. It has several hundred pieces that are gold color, some a bit darker than others. I have all the different hues in separate containers and slowly they are joining each other in the beautiful reproduction of his painting.
After 60 hours of work, releasing the puzzle into laughter - fantastic! <3
love to all