You love me like a game of chess
and make your plays
in a crackerjack way.
and make your plays
in a crackerjack way.
I take the bait,
fooled by some madcap move
and flank your knight
with simple love,
tangle in your circus lies,
blindly captured
like a pawn.
Our queens collide
on black and white,
with harlequin wit
of might makes right.
Blocked in stalemate,
"checkmate" will have to wait.
You are a festival of hate.
Willow, 2009
photo: Chess, by willow
WOW.....WOW.....wicked poem....
ReplyDeletesoooo wicked!
S
wow! - fabulous! - congratulations, Willow :)
ReplyDeletenIce!
ReplyDeleteOofah! A bit deep, a bit dark, a bit different...but I like it! "tangled in your circus lies" indeed! Happy TT, Willow :)
ReplyDeleteOuch. That one hit home.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's why I love it.
You had me (no actually you nailed him) with the first line.
That's what a poem should do - get you right there.
yours in stalemate
jm
Why couldn't it have been a happy game of "Life"? (pun intended)
ReplyDeleteYour poetry amazes me....really! xo
You are AMAZING!
ReplyDeleteHello Willow
ReplyDeletemethinks the chessbox holds some secrets...
Happy days
A good'un. Kinda sensual and true.
ReplyDeletewow...wickedly delicious!
ReplyDeleteA heartfelt, heartless game . . .
ReplyDeleteI have an imagination and I have guessed what I think this is about. You are quite a writer. This was very deep, but parts of our lives become deep and are scarred in the storms of our life.
ReplyDeleteOUCH!
ReplyDeleteOooh indeed. you are very much a wordsmith. This is quite differnt for you. Branching out, eh?
ReplyDeleteBTW, Willow, the movie link doesn't work on your sidebar! :(
ReplyDeleteInteresting way to use descriptive imagery.
ReplyDeleteWow! It all leads up to the last line, like a punch! I'll bet that's the first line that came to you ...
ReplyDeleteA little Bob-Dylan-ish, too ...
Tell us how you compose a poem, Willow. Do you edit - write and rewrite? Or, the stream of consciousness thing perhaps? Does it come out all at once or does a line come in a dream or while taking a walk? Maybe you love the sound of a word...or the feeling it invokes.
ReplyDeleteDonna, well, all of the above, actually. Sometimes one will just flow and I like what I write down the very first time. Most times, like this one, a line comes to mind and I build around it. All week I've had the last line to this poem on my mind and had to write a poem around it.
ReplyDeleteJen, yes! I just answered you in my comment to Donna.
ReplyDeleteMmm, both movie links are working on my end. Sorry about that.
ReplyDelete"Blocked in stalemate,
ReplyDelete"checkmate" will have to wait."
Whoa, I liked this one. I even understood it. I'm making such progress on my poetry reading. Thanks for your post.
Lovely picture, fun poem.
ReplyDeletethe photo and the poem give me the dark chills! But great reading.. :)
ReplyDeleteYikes! I didn't see that last line coming at all. I loved that "make your plays crackerjack way". Heck! I loved it all!
ReplyDeleteKat
That is a fine poem and the last verse stimulates a lot of thought. Congratulations. It really is very good.
ReplyDeletefestival of hate!? WOW! Nice poem.
ReplyDeleteGreat post (as always:)!!
ReplyDeleteHappy TT
xoxo
That last line is very powerful.
ReplyDeletePainful, and yet, I have been caught in a similar web in my life, so also true to life. The last line turns it on it's head. Well done!
ReplyDeletewhew! is your opponent a bad loser?
ReplyDeleteSomeone else said it, but it's truly a wicked poem!
ReplyDeleteAnd I have a confession to make. Before blogging I rarely read poems; it's amazing what talent I've found in blogland that I truly enjoy!
Wonderful poem... when are you to be published widely? You must be! I so concur with your Mostly Martha review... I blogged about this movie too, lo these many months ago. Great stuff. :)
ReplyDeleteDear Willow: You play for love, you play for keeps. All is fair in love and war. A scholarly checkmate leaves the mate wondering then begging for a rematch. Me defeated? Never! Only knows one killer chess move! Throughly enjoyed your poem playing love and games! Excellent! MORE poems please Willow!!!
ReplyDeleteBPG, maaaavelous new picture of you, daaaaling! When are you going to start posting again? I miss visiting your devine blog!! ~x
ReplyDeleteyowser!
ReplyDeletefestival of hate
I'll pass on that one
powerful poem
I don't know about you, but one of the blessings of middle age is that I'm no longer interested in playing interpersonal games, oh no. Used to really get into it, but no more!
ReplyDeleteGreat poem, Willow!!
Great chess pic!
ReplyDeleteThat was fascinating to read and re-read. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteGoodness me! Not sure what to make of this willow!
ReplyDeletecircus lies....how perfect is that?
ReplyDeleteHello Willow,
ReplyDeleteWhat I have learned from reading more and more blog poetry of late is how differently people see the same poem. This is powerful and well written as all your others. But I couldn't presume to know exactly what it is saying.
interesting. I wonder if the last line is necessary? otherwise quite evocative.
ReplyDeleteSuki, the last line is what I constructed the whole piece around. It's definitely staying! :^)
ReplyDelete'A festival of hate'.. now that does not sound like a good thing...
ReplyDeleteReally glad that match is over! But you're the winner, right? Yes!
ReplyDeleteGood poem--actually, I always feel that way about chess, tho I realize ultimately this is about something else.
ReplyDeleteSay, great to see your currently obsessed with one of my all-time favorite film stars, Harold Lloyd!
Flank you knight.............
ReplyDeletePoignant!
That is one wicked poem.
ReplyDeleteTruly.
Thanks Willow.
Okay this is great..."a festival of hate"!
ReplyDeleteHowdy Doody.
ReplyDeleteBlogging has just become way more work than I want to do. I enjoyed being outside today and digging in the dirt without oxygen. I deleted my archives and all the pictures on Photobucket. I am putting my cameras to bed. I got over 80,000 pictures now. How many pictures do I need, Patty asked.
What I did today is on abelincolnblogs.blogspot.com/
OH! Willow! That was effin' GREAT!!! I loved it!!
ReplyDeleteI am oddly drawn to this poem....I love it. I especially love the last line. So provocative, in the best sort of way.
ReplyDeleteToo true, Willow. Way too true.
ReplyDeleteLove the way you started with the last line first then built the poem around it,i think that's what makes it such a sucker punch right at the end totally out of left field.Boy i could feel that one right on the jaw thousands of miles away. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Eejit, if you like it, it's a great compliment!!!
ReplyDeleteok sounds like folks are quite taken with the power of that line.
ReplyDeleteI think you've taken a coup;e of my pawns en passant! I think it is a terrific poem, though I have not fully assimilated it yet - maybe it was a Jungian slip that led me to mess up on commenting last time.
ReplyDeleteIt is a clever poem and one that has got its hooks into me. One caveat, though: I feel the fat lady to be a bit of an intrusion.
You should be pleased with it - and thanks for letting me know that I had not commented.
Thanks, Dave, for coming back for a read. I'm always very interested on what you have to say. I'll be tweaking around on this poem. I tend to agree with you on the fat lady. She's maybe a bit too "Mae West" for the chess match. :^)
ReplyDeleteThe Dark art Of Chess........
ReplyDeleteI missed TT this week as we were vacationing but I am glad I got to catch your take on it...MOST EXCELLENT!
ReplyDeleteYou come to read this one so often. It must be your favorite.
ReplyDelete