- Armin Hamrah ’23
Armin joins Adrian de Vernou as our second contributor to the Literature column as he is hoping to continue bringing forth chess-themed poetry every week. Today’s piece is inspired by Wallace Stevens’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”
♟
Among five half dozens,
The only sovereign protection
Were the vulnerable pawns.
♟♟
Defending twins
Diagonally having one another’s backs
True brotherly love
♞
Check this L
Take the L
♞♟
An interesting combo,
says the optimist.
An impossible combo,
says the pessimist.
♜
Hopeless after an early blunder,
Yet a hero in the endgame’s thunder.
♜♟
Nonexisting chemistry,
Prone to a simple zugzwang
That even patzers can perform.
♜♟♟
My mind is perplexed,
In the millions of potential combinations
A blocked block, 42
Thousands of which resulting in
an inevitable checkmate
♜♝
Division of the queen,
but powerless alone
Strength in numbers,
GMs might say.
♛
The female sovereign,
Rare and majestic.
All in one,
and one for all.
♛♟
A very rare meeting,
or a powerful pawn.
For obtaining a pawn promotion,
requires intense focus
♛♟♟
The royal pyramid
Embodying the encomienda
Pawns at the queen’s forefront
Off course, of course
♛♝
The pawns have spoken,
one is not enough.
The pawns have spoken,
Fianchettos are enough
♚
Protected early,
yet all game is endgame
Protects defeat,
yet trapped and guillotined.
Image Source:
“Chess on the Dot” by Joshua Chao is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
