~Joseph de Maistre
Welcome! The Poetry Friday round-up is here this week!
I'm having a puzzle-ing day. Maybe most of you have tried Wordle? I've been enjoying it.
Has Cain's Jawbone come on your radar? It's a puzzle book from 1934: "To solve the puzzle, the reader must determine the correct order of the pages and also the names of the murderers and victims within the story." Two people solved it in the '30s, and one solved it last year. (There is a $1300 prize for contemporary winners. I think you need to do it by the end of the year.)
Our poem for today is Jigsaw by Rabbi Kushner:
Jigsaw
by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
Each lifetime is the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
For some there are more pieces.
For others the puzzle is more difficult to assemble.
Some seem to be born with a nearly completed puzzle.
And so it goes.
Souls going this way and that.
Trying to assemble the myriad parts.
But know this. No one has within themselves
All the pieces to their puzzle.
Like before the days when they used to seal
jigsaw puzzles in cellophane. Insuring that
All the pieces were there.
Everyone carries with them at least one and probably
Many pieces to someone else's puzzle....
read the rest here
***********
Time for your links!
This is just a delightful post all around, Tabatha - Thank you! I appreciate your introducing me/us to all kinds of new puzzling wonders, and I'll have to check out Dash's story with the oh-so-clever title. Love the poem, especially this line - "No one has within themselves/all the pieces to their puzzle."
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting, too - I didn't see a Mr. Linky, so here's mine:
http://www.robynhoodblack.com/blog/posts/40232
I'm featuring two more New Year Poem Postcard swap treasures, by Linda B. and Margaret S. this week.
Oh - Nevermind; for some reason Mr. Linky showed up after I left my comment. ;0)
ReplyDeletePuzzles always call my name... yes, I've just discovered Wordle and I'm hooked. I like the rabbi's poem... thanks for sharing and hosting. Lots of fun here.
ReplyDeleteI have NOT heard of Cain's Jawbone. It sounds tough. I'm resisting wordle. I have plenty of things to do without getting sucked into it! But, I'm enjoying the fun others are having to discover and master the wordle. Thanks for hosting this week!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tabatha, for another nourishing post. What an incredible gift from your son! I did not know that book and am intrigued, though my stamina for puzzles beyond poetry is small. We have a young friend who is a master of puzzles...and I will share this quote and wondrous poem with her. I adore the poem you share. It made me think of another you may know, Sean Thomas Dougherty's "Why Bother?" Happy Poetry Friday. Thank you for hosting and much love for the new year. xo
ReplyDeleteI like all the pieces of this interesting post :). Thought provoking poem. Didn't know there were such things as puzzle books. Cain's Jawbone sounds very challenging -- beyond my abilities for sure. Cool of your son to make a puzzle book for you. As for Wordle, I haven't tried it yet but will probably do so out of curiosity since so many are hooked on it. Thanks for hosting this week!
ReplyDeleteI love the poem, talking about connection, could be an addition to the poem & the anthology I shared today, Tabatha. The idea that we add our own pieces to others and they to us is a loving thought. Yes, I've been doing Wordle, but recently. My puzzle recently isPangram & I spend way too much time on it! I'll check out Dash's gift, intriguing. I used to have students create a game that includes plot & characters & setting of a favorite book, so the idea of a puzzle is terrific to ponder! Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that your son created such a special gift for you! I have heard of Cain's Jawbone, but it hurts my head just thinking about trying to solve such a puzzle. Kushner's poem is a puzzle piece I needed today. Thank you so much for sharing it. And thank you for hosting today! Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy New Year!
ReplyDeleteFun post, Tabatha. I love word puzzles, and have even had some published in children's mags!I haven't heard of this one, though - I'll need to check it out. And what a perfect poem - especially those last two lines included here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
Tabatha, thanks for hosting today and for the interesting post. I agree with Matt that the last lines of the poem are telling. I shall ponder that. I read through your son's novella and was impressed with its flow. I need to think through that one too because I was never a great clue player. Maybe I should really sink my teeth into the novella since we are going to a mystery night party in a few months.
ReplyDeleteI love that jigsaw poem - reminds me of Silverstein's The Missing Piece Meets the Big O. Love the concept of the puzzle book as well, will definitely check that out. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd and and... thank you so much for hosting this week! :)
ReplyDeleteI am not a jigsaw puzzler - but my mum and sister are. (I have completed one... twice. Because it was a part of our courtship story, and was dropped, before it was framed. And in fact, lost a piece in the process, so I had to make it up... and now people can't pick which piece it is - and I think that is kind of cool!
ReplyDeleteBut I do love the idea of this book you've mentioned. And I am very intrigued by Dash's Christmas gift. What a treasure he is! I will certainly check it out.
The poem is perfect. I love that we are interconnected puzzles, with another's necessary pieces. Beautiful. Thank-you for sharing. And thank-you for hosting us today. :)
Intriguing poem Tabatha, I'm also very taken with the lines that we carry around pieces of another's puzzle and when you exchange these, "You are a messenger from the Most High." Thanks for this treasure-filled poem and post, and for hosting. I have looked into Wordle briefly but haven't taken the plunge yet… I look forward to reading Dash's short story!
ReplyDeleteTabitha, Thank you for hosting. I the idea of no one having all the pieces to their puzzle and that some carry our pieces with them and vice versa. It reminds me of the "it takes a village" phrase, which I never believed until I got a little older and my boys grew into wonderful young men because of the influence and support of many people in our community (mostly teachers). It does take some time to figure out who has the pieces of our puzzles that fit best. Thank you for sharing this today!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tabatha, for hosting and for sharing your love of all things puzzling. All of which shows us, we truly are part of something bigger. ;)
ReplyDeleteHow serendipitous! My PF post is a perfect fit with your puzzling theme. I'm scratching my head at the thought of that puzzle book and am tickled that your son created a puzzle story for you. (I'll have to check it out when I have a bit of time.) Rabbi Kushner's poem is one to read again and again. The ending really resonates. Puzzles are such rich metaphors, aren't they? Thanks for hosting and for this terrific post!
ReplyDeleteI've been having a puzzling moment lately myself, and every day thinking of opening up one of the 1000-piece jigsaws that is sitting in the dining room...and then I just do the 3-minute wordle. "when you present your piece/Which is worthless to you" was such a good new way of thinking about how we don't usually know what another is going through, what they have need of. Thanks for hosting, Tab.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting today, Tabitha! I love Kushner's poem and the idea that we may be part of other peoples' puzzles. Such a beautiful image of interconnectedness and the role we play as citizens of Earth. Jigsaw puzzles are a challenge to my weak visual spacing ability, but bring on a good word puzzle any day!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting, Tabatha! I'm hooked on Wordle, and now that I'm reading Molly's amazing Wordle-Poems, I think I'm going to change my strategy from "win with the fewest guesses" to "win with the most interesting words and then write a poem!" I'm ready to go with today's words, but can't post because of the spoiler. I love the puzzle poem you chose. So much truth.
ReplyDeleteDear Tabatha, thank you for this puzzle post! I'm kind of in love with the word jigsaw today. I've seen all sorts of Wordle-love online, but I've never played! One puzzler of a book that enchanted me growing up was MASQUERADE by Kit Williams. Me and my sibs spent hours days months deciphering and dreamed of finding that treasure... thank you for hosting! xo
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting and posting this new-to-me poem. I am drawn into the idea of each of us holding pieces to others' puzzles. I've never been very good at puzzles of any kind. I hit frustration level pretty quickly. But in many ways the act of writing a poem is like a puzzle, right? So there's that.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Cain's Jawbone. I've never been good at solving such things, but what a wonderful gift you received from your son. Your poem reminded me when I was little, my father used to hide a piece of a jigsaw and present it with a flourish at the end when everyone was looking for it.
ReplyDeleteTabatha, I'm so intrigued by both Cain's Jawbone and Jane's Cawbone. Your son is so creative! I read through it and I'm stumped. I'll have to spend some time with it and see if I can figure it out. How long did it take you?
ReplyDeleteYour poem from Rabbi Kushner is lovely. I love the lines:
Everyone carries with them at least one and probably
Many pieces to someone else's puzzle.
Here's to being part of one another's puzzles. xo
And thank you for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your son's fine work! We have printed it out, and my son is working on solving it! I can't wait to email you his answers! Peace keep you.
ReplyDeleteI love the poem, Tabatha. I love the idea that each of us is a piece to someone else's puzzle. Thank you for sharing it today!
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting! I love the puzzle poem!
ReplyDelete