( Photograph by Sven Read )

Unfinished

The Puzzle Box

There are holes inside everything.
Jigsaw pieces are missing

from the sky. People cram
puzzle fragments down their throats,

night and day. Nothing
seems to fit, or not for long.

There are locks inside everyone,
doors that open into other doors.

Each question is answered
with another question. Deep

under the ground, I’ve glimpsed
a shifting labyrinth of corridors,

where people play at running from
their demons, hunting down

their dreams. Deeper still, at the centre
of the world, giant iron cogs

are biting razor teeth, grinding  
and creaking in a mechanism

which never shuts down. At the core
of each of us, you can hear a whirring.       

Lucy Whitehead has a BA (Hons) in Archaeology and Anthropology and an MA in History of Art and Archaeology (of Central and Southeast Asia). She writes haiku and poetry. Her haiku have been published widely in various international journals and anthologies, and her poetry has appeared in Barren Magazine, Mookychick Magazine, and Twist in Time Literary Magazine. Her Twitter handle is @blueirispoetry