A memory built
of white and black squares
where pieces you
can’t quite see walk,
hop and battle.
Sets get mixed—
his queen doesn’t match
your castle
and liveried knights
wander questlessly.
You focus your
weary brain, fierce
as any bishop’s but
you just can’t remember
your next move.
Mark J. Mitchell’s latest novel, The Magic War just appeared from Loose Leaves Publishing .A Full length collection of poems will released next year by Encircle Publications. He studied writing at UC Santa Cruz under Raymond Carver and George Hitchcock. His work has appeared in the several anthologies and hundreds of periodicals. Three of his chapbooks— Three Visitors, Lent, 1999, and Artifacts and Relics—and the novel, Knight Prisoner are available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble. He lives with his wife the activist and documentarian, Joan Juster and makes a living pointing out pretty things in San Francisco.
A meager online presence can be found at https://www.facebook.com/MarkJMitchellwriter/
Photo: @sweetdangerzack
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