Incomplete/Complete

Collage, by Jane Fleming

i am the left-behind-sock 
the lover that ditched me
for good
during a coffee run
the broken piano key
that mars a perfect song
the everything bagel 
shedding poppy seeds

i am the broken shoelace
the jagged drinking glass
singing/ringing/clinking
in the garbage dump
mouth larger than hell’s dog
the fallen tree limb
that waits to be burned
in the fire that rises
to touch the drooping/sinking
hem of chaos

i am the transcript
the incomplete in an 
unfinished course
on love and loss
poet’s oeuvre/bird’s nest/wet papers
the bright red rose
torn from its stem
the empty bed 
after a mother dies
from the cancer that eats
hungrily
until it strips/silences/liberates
its host

i am the ruptured web
of a spider’s trap rebuilding
every time I am rent asunder
the crust of bread
edible but dry as sand
the hairs from someone’s head
soft rain
seeking a congregation
a waterfall
of drunken spillage

i am the gaping heart
searching for God
in his hidden homes
the infinite multiplicity
adding spirits
without end
the tear that sinks
into the river of disconnection
longing for an ocean
evaporating into a cosmos
speeding in all directions
space gas/origins/creation’s spark

i am a scrap of eternity made
visible/tangible/vibrant
incompleteness in all things
the urgent impulse to belong
i will be the last breath escaping
to live
as air

Moira J Saucer @MJSEyesOpened  is a disabled poet/writer living in Dothan, Alabama. She earned an M.F.A. eons ago from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. She has created a garden of ornamental plants, and she enjoys studying the guitar. Moira is also a participant in the Pink Plastic House 2019 Online Summer Residency.