Jigsaw

By: Chloe Bausano

I. A menagerie of memories

Kaleidoscope as cowlicked

Waves push me into the

Sand.

Incited nostalgia

Whips naivete around

The cul’d’sac: daydreams

Dissolve reality.

II.

5 years old I cannot ride

My bicycle, which replaced

The tricycle, and when my dad reaches

Over to help me up I yell “DON’T TOUCH IT” And kick the fallen bike until I pick it up,

Get on, and pedal

Away.

I think about running away for no

Other reason than that Wendy ran away,

And by the time I realize Peter Pan is

A ghost, and Neverland is a made up place

Where dead children go, I have grown out

Of the daydream.

III.

A shard of seaglass pierces my side and

The sand runs out faster than I can catch it,

Hands out, palms up.

My eyes open and the sun is blazing

And my lungs are burning

So I do not step foot in the ocean for

The rest of the summer.

I watch shark week the next year

And decide to get back in.

Most shark attacks happen in five feet

Of water or less, so I swim until

I cannot touch the ground.

---

Chloe is an emerging poet who recently graduated from Cornell University with a degree in English Literature. Her free verse poetry captures fleeting moments of nostalgia and focuses on answering questions like 'what is a crunchy word?' and 'what does it mean to love?' An avid reader, Chloe can generally be found lost in a bookstore in search of the next adventure.