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”).

The puzzle reveals the beginnings of a home: a cottage surrounded by the natural beauty of “deer,” other wildlife, and a golden, autumnal forest (see: Symbols and Motifs “Nature”) (Line 9). However, the idyllic home within the puzzle is much more serene than the one Laux finds herself in. Laux abruptly shifts her focus halfway through the poem from the puzzle to describing her own home and daughter, noting how she attempts to build the puzzle as her “child / circles her room, impatient” (Lines 10-11). The tone of the poem becomes uneasy, mirroring the stormy emotions of Laux’s daughter who is “tired / of the neat house, the made bed, / the good food” provided for her by her parents (Lines 12-14). Here, Laux conjures the same images found in the puzzle in the concrete world, exposing how difficult it is to maintain her home as a place of rest, relaxation, and safety when multiple people’s emotions are involved in the construction of the private sphere (see: Themes “Private vs Public Sphere”).

The introduction of her daughter allows Laux to compare her concerns as an adult to the innocence of her child: the child she is trying to shield from the harsh realities of the world (see: Themes “Childhood Innocence,” “Loss of Innocence”). The title, “Break,” acquires dual meaning due to the various denotations of the word that Laux references within this extended comparison. Lines 1-10 characterize puzzle making as a break: a leisurely activity that provides respite to Laux and her husband, “backs turned for a few hours / to a world that is crumbling” (Lines 17-18). Lines 10-20 shift the denotation of “break” to something far less peaceful. Break becomes closer aligned to a fracture, characterizing the unpredictable, unstable world Laux is trying to raise her daughter in as all together broken and hard to navigate. The puzzle not only parallels the trials and tribulations of family life, connecting seamlessly one minute and breaking apart the next, but it also acts as a form of escapism for the adults in the poem, before they must pick up the pieces of their lives they are “required to return to” (Line 20).