By Capri Salvatore (she/her)
On Our Individual Pieces and How They Fit Within Ourselves:
A puzzle…
It's made of many pieces.
Like people, like me.
As I’ve collected and assembled my pieces,
I've found I don't have all the pieces that
most others do.
I don't have an empty hole there.
Yet some insist that they should get to
stick their piece in.
There's also those who think
I just don't wanna admit
that my piece is pink and triangular.
But I've considered that piece.
And as beautiful a piece as it is,
it's not a part of me.
None of those pieces will snap in,
so they snap and freak out.
Focused on one piece. They won't step back,
away from how they've always
thought a puzzle should look,
and see what's right in front of them.
What's there is a beautiful picture.
A picture made of many pieces,
not all the same pieces as theirs,
but they don't have all my pieces either.
Don't have pieces that center my picture,
pieces that would leave gaping holes without.
Just because you haven't figured out a puzzle
doesn't mean it's missing pieces,
you just don't see the picture right.