Chess Therapy

by Sara Backer

Chess Therapy

 

I play both sides of the chess board

alternating white and black.  I fight and switch

 

becoming my own worst enemy

and then the enemy of my enemy

 

I must watch closer.  I’m not sure who wins

when I lose, this process my triumph.

 

One-step, two-step pawns set up challenges

until a cornered king lies down.

 

When the game ends, the journey begins.

Alone, without the comfort of his square,

 

the crownless king must find the man within,

give up e1/e2 to feel the fibers of the rug,

 

to learn its pattern where his shadow falls,

and dream his way beyond the castle walls. 

First published in Anima (UK)

 

99th Weekly Poetry Contest
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