Eight: Queen’s Bishop (poem)

 

 

 

Queen’s Bishop

 

What if we did a game sometime?

Reasons not to be arrested

she thinks, more her concern than his

On this day the two walk through

plowed snow mounting the curb

socks chunking up

with ice, ice seeping into soles

No closet space, she thinks of that

cold from walls, smelling like fuzz

Like stuff, she pictures, that grows

on a corpse, when nature wants it back

You’re not asking what if, she tells him

You’re asking, would I help

Yeah, when I say we, that’s what I’m talking about, you and me

He answers late, peeved

No, what I’m talking about

You’ve got some friend, and instead of doing it himself…?

Milady Queen (now there’s the charm again)

I found out this situation, and it might be a thing

 

He is not a lover, quite

A flirt, his deviled heart cleaves itself a twin

This serious friend who is the dragonfly

vulnerable in the sun

pumping juice into her glorious wings

She is art, redemption, token, if the game were to be

get out of jail free

 

Rainy…

He has always called his wife Rainy

How’s that spelled? What’s it short for?

Who wants to know.

His wife falls, she tends to,

like a dampener on their dates

Gotta call, when it gets past nine…

When the movie’s done…

Let her think I’m still in town.

 

Rainy has spotted an item of interest

at her church. Friends, many friends to pray for

of late, no joke. She was gonna Venmo her tithe,

patted every pocket…no phone

That, he tells La Queen, is trouble for another time

Rainy went in the office, went to use the landline

A scene played out behind

Reflected on glass

And she watched that cheeseball preacher she likes

Hide his stash

Now I’m kinda proud of her

 

 

 

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Queen’s Bishop

King’s Knight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(2022, Stephanie Foster)