Activity Room

John Bargowski

My mother wants nothing to do with the puzzle

two other residents,

whose wheelchairs have been rolled up

to a folding card table,

are trying to put together --

a west-side shot of the New York skyline

broken up into a thousand pieces,

the stubborn morning smog

she could see from the apartment

she had to give up Photoshopped out,

the OT insisting Mom join in the fun,

taking my mother's stroke-locked hand

and guiding it to

a corner piece that's an easy fit,

Mom's head craning over

a missing section of the murky river

she swam in as a girl

before her fingers begin to shovel

through half-built walls, skyscraping towers,

pushing aside everything

that's been pieced back together

to shove a jigsaw shape

into a hole she's found

in the skyline.