Home
Young Writers Project

Search form

  • Login
  • DONATE
  • CREATE
    • RECENT POSTS
    • THE DAILY READ
  • COMMUNITY
    • TINY WRITES
    • BOOK CLUB
    • YWP PODCAST: Line Break
  • CHALLENGES
    • SUMMER OF STORIES: Challenges
    • SUMMER OF STORIES: Contest
    • JOURNALISM CHALLENGES
      • Journalism Project Info
    • THE GREAT POETS CHALLENGE
    • CHALLENGES BANK
    • YWP RESOURCES
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • ANTHOLOGY 12
      • Celebrate Anthology 12 Podcast!
    • THE VOICE
    • SPECIAL ISSUES: The ELM 2021-22
      • The ELM 2020-21
      • The ELM 2019-20
    • MEDIA PARTNERS
    • YWP NEWSLETTER
    • ANNUAL REPORT
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT YWP
    • "YWP is ..." Who we are!
    • PERMISSION FORM
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS OF USE
    • CONTACT US
  • Donate
  • LOG IN/JOIN
Previous Post
Next Post
Jun 24
poem
Worlds.Within.Words

Ode to Memory

Humans are a puzzle
Without a picture on the box
Designed to look finished
After every piece
Never able to find the next hole
Until it is filled
But as soon as the jigsaw edges snap
Into place
We exclaim, "there!
How much better that looks"
Forgetting immediately what we're comparing
The new and improved version to
What it is improved on.


Or sometimes we spend years
Searching for one cardboard shape
But as soon as we find it
We realize it's part of the background
An edge or even a
Corner, perhaps,
Yet so much less interesting
Than the pieces
We picked up along the way.


I cannot believe that humans stop growing
For then
Where do all the new experiences fit
Snap into place
If not a longer leg
A broader chest?
Do we just keep shoving them in
Squeezing them tighter and tighter so that
Death
Is really an explosion of memory?

But then
How will I ever shrink when I grow old?
  • Worlds.Within.Words's blog
  • Sprout
  • Log in or register to post comments
  • Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted: 06.24.18
About the Author: Worlds.Within.Words
"I say I want to save the world but really/I want to write poems all day" -Dorothea Lasky
MSG / CONTACT
RECENT LOVES
  • the journey of a girl
  • Sunlight
  • Frost
  • Rebel
  • Autumn
RECENT COMMENTS
  • Once there was a girl who
  • This is wonderously strange
  • I'm not sure what it was
  • I cried every time I read
  • Thank you, Shannon! I'm glad

Other Posts

  • Obsessed
    I'm obsessedWith storiesI'm obsessedWith the way light Read more
    in poem 0 Comments
  • what i will tell the hairdresser
    Freedom, I used to think,was long hair billowingbehind me in the wind Read more
    in poem 1 Comment
  • 17
    Editor's note: A small bug in YWP's audio recorder prevents us from eliminating the first, blank Read more
    in poem 9 Comments

Discussion

Comments

  1. ShanRippWriting
    Jun 25, 2018

    Your imagery is amazing here. I love how you wove the image of the puzzle and cardboard through the entire piece and used general yet also specific details to make this relatable. Great job, Shannon :)

    Shannon Ripp

    • Log in or register to post comments
  1. Worlds.Within.Words
    Jun 25, 2018

    Thank you, Shannon! I'm glad you liked it and that the puzzle image worked for you.

    "I say I want to save the world but really/I want to write poems all day"
    -Dorothea Lasky

    • Log in or register to post comments
  • ABOUT
  • DONATE
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER
  • JOIN/LOGIN
YWP is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists, ages 13-18. We're based in Burlington, VT, and we welcome young creators from anywhere!
Special thanks to The Kemmerer Family Foundation whose generous support made this new, improved website possible.
Website development and design by Refaktor Inc., Summit Creative Works, and YWP's Vivien Sorce, Lauren McCabe, Katherine Moran, and Susan Reid.

Young Writers Project | 47 Maple St., Suite 216 | Burlington, VT 05401
501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2006
Contact: Susan Reid, Executive Director: [email protected]; (802) 324-9538