10.08.18 CheckMate

though central
to the game
he is limited
in scope:
one step
forward
or back
side or side
at a time
is nearly all
he can do.
Though central
to the game
he is vulnerable
perpetual hunter
hunted prey.
The whole game
depends only
dialectically
upon him,
for who is the piece that
begins by his side
that ranges the board beyond his reach
in service and defense? Who flits
far and wide after foes and meets
a more distant challenge than he?
Who boldly moves from their common center
with more broadly radial potential?
In battle
the king
must imagine
himself
erect and potent
charged
and necessarily
forgets his
more habitual
soft
supple state.
He rejects
projects
this pliable
reality
onto his
others.
And no wonder, for he cannot see that within her
is an organ whose habitual state is firm and unyielding
that softens to receive only periodically and temporarily.
They are each other’s match
in more ways than he
can often imagine,
moving as he does,
one step
at a time,
though prudent
he underserves
the potential
for their partnership:
when working in concert the game
flows with musicality and prowess.
The board was forged before
his playing, and the grid is patriarchy.
Derived from the greek,
“ruling father”
that is it
that is all
all that word
means at its
core.
The error in practice was the assumption that
ruling
he rules
alone
and the unknowing that each of us—
we all play both sides of the board.