Sarah Gibbard Cook
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Jigsaw Puzzle Season

1/27/2020

2 Comments

 
Picture
Max Escher gazes up from the self-portrait that absorbed much of my January. Nearly devoid of crisp lines or vivid colors, right angles skewed by his reflecting sphere, it launched me more than once into searching the floor for a piece I knew must be missing.

Winter is jigsaw puzzle season. We’re fortunate to have a suitable table available, since the holidays, for as long as the thousand pieces take to assemble. Though I feared this one might take months, gradually my perceptions sharpened. Distinctions of tone and texture emerged that were invisible at first. This temporary shift in perception is as predictable as the conviction that a piece is missing.

For a time, the world around me grows more vivid, too. Colorless midwinter takes on myriad shades of brown, gray, and white. Like skills or muscles, the senses we exercise grow stronger. Perhaps that’s why writers are encouraged to carry notepads, not just to capture phrases or incidents for future reference, but to hone the skill of noticing. 
2 Comments
Rebecca link
1/27/2020 04:39:18 pm

Yes, the noticing! Observations make the writer, could be why many writers are introverts, or many introverts are writers. Silent, they can take in the scene. -Rebecca

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Sarah Cook link
1/27/2020 07:46:07 pm

That would be the ideal, and you notice with a keen eye, Rebecca. Me, not so good. I tune in to patterns, shapes, landscapes, more than details; I can navigate to the corner of X and Y but don't recall what building is on that corner. So the puzzle practice helps.

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    I'm a historian who writes novels and literary nonfiction. My home base is Madison, Wisconsin. 

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