Click on the link for a video of me doing some Spoken Word. At my daughter’s wedding reception, no less!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/81dhc1zt3gowi5s/chess%20.mov
Click on the link for a video of me doing some Spoken Word. At my daughter’s wedding reception, no less!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/81dhc1zt3gowi5s/chess%20.mov
Filed under Passing Thoughts
I was playing chess with my brother
We were using a plastic fold-up travel set
The pieces had little magnets in their bases
So no matter how turbulent the game might get
In the myriad travel adventures one might have
They’d stay put
The board would never be upset
No matter if the plane hit an air pocket and stuff went flying
Even if the oxygen masks popped out in front of you
The chess set clutched in your hand is safe
Its pieces unperturbed
Undisturbed by petty forces like gravity
No matter if the cheap Greek ferry you should never have taken
Is pitching and rolling its way across mythic waters
While you are puking your guts out over the railing
The damned chess game will be safe
Where your green faced brother
Waits in a deck chair for your return
I was playing chess with my brother
In Tahiti
A layover between Bora Bora and Auckland
5 star hotel for a change
Better than that first night on Bora Bora
Being attacked by hundreds of land crabs
In a thatched roof shelter
We were sheltering on park benches in the dark
While the crabs went clickety clack at our feet
And we regretted our lack of reservations but
The chess set was unperturbed and not shaken at all
Back in Tahiti and uber civilization
We wandered the lobby and grounds
Looked for a quiet corner to play chess for a while
Which we did
Relaxing in tropical splendor
The air redolent with an aromatic assault of fragrance
And foliage that spewed forth everywhere
Lush beyond the understanding of a northerner
I was playing chess with my brother
In a hotel in Tahiti
I was playing chess with my brother
In a hotel in Tahiti
When the area around us was invaded
By badly dressed
Middle aged at best
Loud obnoxious tourists
Who sat down at the other tables we had barely noticed
The courtyard seemed to have grown a stage magically
A flourish of light and sound announced the arrival
Of some touristy Polynesian show
I was no longer playing chess with my brother
I was watching a show
You know, the kind of thing they do on cruises
A Disney dizzy rendition of a corporately approved version of the folkloric past
Bumps and grinds dressed up in National Geographic yellow and black
I almost enjoyed it for a while
No longer playing chess with my brother
Until the show got to the part where the dancers
Get off the stage and head into the audience to pick partners
That’s when I found myself onstage
In a 5 star hotel in Tahiti
Taking a Polynesian dance lesson
To the great delight of a happy crowd
Boisterous package tour tourists
Me, wishing I was playing chess with my brother
Who was clutching the unperturbed chess-set
While I made a good natured but failed attempt to comply with the commands
My hips and knees and elbows moving in disarray
Hoots and hollers, guffaws ensued
For a brief moment I was embarrassed
Then I remembered that these were just the same odious tourists
I had rolled my eyes and arched my eyebrows at
Mere moments before
So I relaxed and rolled with it
Was sent back to my seat eventually
Eventually they all packed up and left
We exhaled
I was playing chess with my brother
David Trudel © 2012
Filed under Poetry
I was playing chess with my brother
We were using a plastic fold-up travel set
The pieces had little magnets in their bases
So no matter how turbulent the game might get
In the myriad travel adventures one might have
They’d stay put
The board would never be upset
No matter if the plane hit an air pocket and stuff went flying
Even if the oxygen masks popped out in front of you
The chess set clutched in your hand is safe
Its pieces unperturbed
Undisturbed by petty forces like gravity
No matter if the cheap Greek ferry you should never have taken
Is pitching and rolling its way across mythic waters
While you are puking your guts out over the railing
The damned chess game will be safe
Where your green faced brother
Waits in a deck chair for your return
I was playing chess with my brother
In Tahiti
A layover between Bora Bora and Auckland
Swank hotel for a change
Better than that first night on Bora Bora
Being attacked by hundreds of land crabs
In a thatched roof shelter
Sheltering on park benches in the dark
While the crabs went clickety clack at our feet
We wandered the lobby and grounds
Looked for a quiet corner to play chess for a while
Which we did
Relaxed in tropic splendor
The air redolent, an aromatic assault of fragrance
And foliage that spewed forth everywhere
Lush beyond the understanding of a northerner
I was playing chess with my brother
In a hotel in Tahiti
When the area around us was invaded
By badly dressed
Middle aged at best
Loud obnoxious tourists
Who sat down at the tables we had barely noticed
A courtyard that seemed to have grown a stage magically
A flourish of light and sound announced the arrival
Of some touristy Polynesian show
I was no longer playing chess with my brother
I was watching a show
You know, the kind of thing they do on cruises
A Disney dizzy rendition of a corporately approved version of the folkloric past
Bumps and grinds dressed up in National Geographic yellow and black
I almost enjoyed it for a while
No longer playing chess with my brother
Until the show got to the part where the dancers
Get off the stage and head into the audience to pick partners
That’s when I found myself onstage
In a swank hotel in Tahiti
Taking a Polynesian dance lesson
To the great delight of a happy crowd of boisterous toffs
Me, wishing I was playing chess with my brother
Who was clutching the unperturbed chess-set
While I made a good natured but failed attempt to comply
Hips and knees and elbows moving in disarray
Hoots and hollers, guffaws
For a brief moment I was embarrassed
Then I remembered that these were just the same odious tourists
I had rolled my eyes and arched my eyebrows at
Moments before
So I relaxed and rolled with it
Was sent back to my seat eventually
Eventually they all packed up and left
We exhaled
I was playing chess with my brother
David Trudel © 2012
Filed under Poetry