Jacob Stratman
Design
The Lego box is filled
with bodies: heads, hair,
hands, torsos, legs, capes,
assorted armor. It creeps
me out a bit, looking
into this box, when you
retrieve it, laying your body
flat, reaching, fingertips
straining to grab it, pulling
it toward you like a god
back from break.
So many fragments:
the disembodied,
the dismembered, the dissed.
It’s an unmarked grave--
playtime’s war ditch
way back there under the bed.
But you love these Legos.
You sit down at the box
and begin the work
of repair for the new day’s
narrative. Harry Potter’s body
will need Spiderman’s face;
a police officer’s vest with a lizard
king’s legs, holding Chinese
throwing stars will begin
to see the world
through Michelangelo’s eyes.
Velma’s hair on Voldemort’s
head with Batman’s cape
on Wildstyle’s jacket-body
will hold a hammer,
will hold a position
in your universe that fits,
and mends, realigning
the brokenness in the box
in ways I can’t understand,
but is needed to carry out
your plans for all of them
to prosper.
The Lego box is filled
with bodies: heads, hair,
hands, torsos, legs, capes,
assorted armor. It creeps
me out a bit, looking
into this box, when you
retrieve it, laying your body
flat, reaching, fingertips
straining to grab it, pulling
it toward you like a god
back from break.
So many fragments:
the disembodied,
the dismembered, the dissed.
It’s an unmarked grave--
playtime’s war ditch
way back there under the bed.
But you love these Legos.
You sit down at the box
and begin the work
of repair for the new day’s
narrative. Harry Potter’s body
will need Spiderman’s face;
a police officer’s vest with a lizard
king’s legs, holding Chinese
throwing stars will begin
to see the world
through Michelangelo’s eyes.
Velma’s hair on Voldemort’s
head with Batman’s cape
on Wildstyle’s jacket-body
will hold a hammer,
will hold a position
in your universe that fits,
and mends, realigning
the brokenness in the box
in ways I can’t understand,
but is needed to carry out
your plans for all of them
to prosper.
Jacob Stratman’s first book of poems, What I Have I Offer With Two Hands, is a part of the Poiema Poetry Series (Cascade, 2019). His most recent poems can be found (or are forthcoming) in The Christian Century, Spoon River Poetry Review, Salt Hill, Bearings Online, Moria, and Ekstasis. He lives and teaches in Siloam Springs, AR.