Poem: Grandmaster
February 22, 2016
The plush vermillion drapes
were pushed aside momentarily —
a passing shoulder, perhaps,
or a microphone cord —
and a brindle shadow fell
across the hushed room.
He looked up from the false ivory,
looked out through the frosted glass,
and one tiny corridor
of his labyrinthine mind
wandered at the sudden, shrill, iridescent glow
of life outside.
Moments passed,
and this moment passed;
the drapes fell back,
and his full deliberation returned
to the quickest kind of death
he could inflict
on his opponent’s queen.