Break

“Break” compares the construction of domesticity to the construction of a jigsaw puzzle. There is an ease that comes with the activity at hand as Laux describes how “we put the puzzle together piece / by piece, loving how one curved / notch fits so sweetly with another” (Lines 1-3). The tone of the poem is calm and unhurried. Laux takes time to “shuffle through the pieces,” detailing how the images on the puzzle become clearer with each new piece she connects (Line 15). What once appeared to be “a yellow smudge” becomes “the brush of a broom,” and two, unassuming “blue arms” connect to form the last of the sky (Lines 4-5). Laux characterizes the construction of the puzzle as a slow and mindful process, patching together “porch swings and autumn / trees, matching gold to gold” (Lines 7-8) in order to uncover the bigger picture. Laux purposefully reveals these details slowly, drawing out the description of the puzzle across the first 10 lines of the poem, gradually disclosing it’s features in order to create a pace that mimics the physical act of search and find necessary in putting together a real-life jigsaw puzzle (see: Literary Devices “Enjambment”).