jack chielli

Jigsaw Puzzle

We are like a puzzle
scattered across the coffee table

in the dark

missing the pieces of circumstance
needed to be finished

I keep looking and finding pieces
and rubbing them between my fingers,
considering them
like unspoken words

trying to understand

where they go

I’ll put on coffee
despite the hour
and plan on staying
up late

Jack J. Chielli is a writer living in Frederick, Maryland. He has an MA in poetry from Wilkes University and a BA in Writing from Roger Williams University. He has been writing since he was very young, in fact wanting to write is his first memory. He was editor of his collegiate literary magazine, Aldebaran. Jack also was a journalist for many years before working in politics. He is currently in higher education where he is a vice president of enrollment management, marketing and communications. His poetry is forthcoming or has been published in Plainsongs, the anthology project Keystone: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania, Martin Lake Journal, Schuylkill Valley Journal , EcoTheo, Coal Hill Review, and Hole in the Head Review.