Eight: Queen (poem)

Queen

She could be his ruling queen

The very air she parts is queen

the dotted outline flees the figure

                   shoplifts

the game is put-it-together

dress yourself in sidewalk snatches

chess the layout, barest thigh passage

between parked cars

twos and threes

chattering in volatile depth of gesture

tranches and diagonals ahead

she plots

She could draw pirate eyes

I, me bucko, too am Pirate

Queen, some passersby are outer space

In secret some the famous dead

able to fling their capes

And she wanted not to dream

Of the long, widening staircase

The hush

The devastating layers of leather and sateen

The heeled lace-up

Queen, all you bitches

Accept the queen

King’s Bishop

(2021, Stephanie Foster)