Eric Otto: Puzzling Would be Truer (Poetry)

Puzzling Would Be Truer

      to its name

       if

      puzzles were edgeless

   and glossy blue on both sides

                                  or whatever color

              folks wouldnt sit around

chitchatting

  while they link together

the

straight

pieces

of

the

outside and laughing

         about that and those and this

  while they build

that

  cloud

                        those

            birds and                                  t

                                                            r

          this                     e

                                picnic                   e

                    basket     

                                                      

if puzzles were edgeless

   and glossy blue on both sides

                                  or whatever color

     

    then the folks who do them

while doing them

               would lift their brows

            in silent recognition that they

             need

      humans really need

                     borders and patterns

Eric Otto is an associate professor of environmental humanities at Florida Gulf Coast University. His academic work includes the book Green Speculations: Science Fiction and Transformative Enviornmentalism (The Ohio State University Press, 2012). His creative work has recently appeared in 7x20, The Orange Room Review, Red River Review, Scifaikuest, Trapeze, Word Riot, and other places. Find him at http://ecotto.wordpress.com//.