Not here –
Even though I find bits of you still
Lingering and loitering
In the shadows
Half wanting to be discovered
Half wanting to be swept away

There was a piece of you
Stuck between the cushions of the sofa
A piece in an old shoe
Pieces in the shower drain
A small piece tucked in with the linens
A piece pressed between the pages
Of your favourite book

For weeks, I could smell
The pieces tangled in my hair
I could feel the ones clinging together
In the folds of my flesh
I could hear pieces rattling
That had been lost in my lung

If I gathered all those pieces
Assembled them in a jar
Would they complete you?

I can run my index finger
Over all the soft edges
The ones you liked to trace
But there are no more pieces there
The litter trail has gone cold

Not here –
Even though I find bits of you still
I can taste you
Like I can taste
This morning's swim on my skin

There are enough pieces
Enough fragments of unwanted memories
To build you over and over
But never the same

The jar only holds regrets
The pieces fit together
Only because I want them to
They will never complete you –
I make effigies
Not men