We were handed the chessboard

without any instructions.

Did not know Queen from Rook,

or Bishop from Knight.

We clustered our pieces

on opposing corners,

unaware that the aim

was to take the other one out,

to claim their colours as our own,

capture the King.

take a crown from the body

only to reset the pieces

and begin again.

Instead we skimmed each other,

slipped between the checkered tiles

to the grey land beyond.

I remember the first time you touched me,

how the world shuddered as I fell.

I learnt the meaning of captured,

what it was to be conquered

and still I came back

to loose myself each time we played

because defeat

was so much better

than anything else I could find.

---

“write a poem that prominently features the idea of play”