Chessmen

“Heads of Chess” by Shellton Tremble

I learned the game
from a Cuban boy
near the copper-green
cast of Liberty’s robe

where his family
of chemists
fled ass over teakettle
north to escape

from Fidel’s
fatal handcuffs
the father now swept
iron shavings

from factory floors
so the son could
become engineer
and my tutor

their story was newer
but nonetheless
similar hearkening
to my own parents

who fled in an
earlier time
not from jailers but
abject privation

the boy taught me well
and to this very day
more than fifty years
hence when I

contemplate chessmen
I ask myself
what would
Antonio do

 

 

(originally posted November 2013)

Whittlings

Rustic Chess Pieces by Jim Arnold

sturdy history
decades of callus
domestic of toil
humid stains
from the hearth

willow broomstick
medium rustic
reluctantly
giving itself to
homely conversion

repurposed by
mind of a hand
small with blades
sharply turned to
the cut and the carve

slender totem
in yield of two
sixteen-piece segments
crude chessmen
uniquely envisioned

a primitive art
seizing function
and form with an
ingenious dream by
a boy with a knife

Sailing Stones

The Sailing Stones of Death Valley
Photo from whenonearth.com

mysterious motion

invisible forces

pedestrian stones

telltale trails marking

death valley sojourns

mythology courting

a barren lithology

hidden hands moving

metamorph chessmen

stealthy indifferent

progression across

a parched board

where nothing can live

but quaint questions

of wanderers wondering

why is low desert the

suitable place for

atonement where old salt

and alkali peel away

skin from the sins in

a game without rules

without tactics a chaos

of stumbling aimlessly

under a blazing hot

punishing ceiling of sun

imperceptible penitent

movements of sinners

confirmed by their

imprinted shadowless

tracks dragging pace

with the scored

playa racetracks of

slow sailing stones

A Beautiful Game

 

“Bishop, Knight and Rook” by Samuel Bak

 

 

truth over principle

reading stark moments

through filters recalling

mind-body experience

spatial arrangements

positional confidence

intellect merely an

adjunct of memory

battledressed attitude

sharply applied with a

circumspect vision

for clever solutions

alert for the sudden

prepared for the subtle

respecting the possible

failures enough to

concede to the need

to make change

to make sacrifice

fearlessly tempered

by caution derived from

deductive perceptions

acuity breeds within

practice as discipline

follows from focus

the eye of the brain

finds its foresight

extended more accurate

critical thinking an analog

yielding philosophy

here is a game

upon sixty-four squares

in whose play lies a

magical whetstone

a tool for refinement

for honing the skillset

required for living

strategically happily

graced with deep

self-satisfaction

 

 

From my book Small Noise

Cold(hearted) Warrior

Bobby Fischer c. 1972
Photo from atlantajournal.com

aloof prodigy
tunneled under the spotlights
with grandmaster skills
undermining the walled
Kremlin prison of titles
ascending the cultural
throne of Jack Armstrong

the crown seemed to crack
his phenomenal mind
and he leapt from the pinnacle
right into vitriol splashing
the Jews and American life
even cheered nine eleven
and called for a coup

running country to country
the hands that had shattered
all claims to the royal board
capturing worship of millions
died on a cold day in Iceland
three people attending his grave
which was just fine by him

Bobby Fischer c. 2010
Photo from mexico.cnn.com

Chess Praxis

Illustration from jlrpartners.com

 

 

morality sets the board

convictions cast strategy

ethics move pieces

captures judged

against forfeitures

position stands

risks and rewards

accountability scored

justice the end game

 

Mozart of Chess

José Raúl Capablanca 1888-1942
Cuban Grandmaster & World Champion)

 

positional brilliance

maestro of queen with knight endgame

unequaled at speed