Playing Chess. Poem by Mary X

It was in the night
that awkward
darkness covered
a
girl and pushed the check
towards my eyes.

That busy place –
Hustle and bustle –
Booze being knocked back like
Water.
I
had no legs
and the fairy darkness
lay on my hip.

I ask questions,
cryptic question marks
that bemuse
and confuse my listener.

She slides from under my feet
and into the lit palm
of another man – again.
I am
another
piece on the board.

The hand
that catches these
women
of the night
is bewildering to
a forlorn man.
Towering over my head
with forks for fingers
and wings for wrinkles.

The floor was littered
with ashes and stapled together
in a livid mix of
beer and vodka in

the night-time,
with it’s mysterious
glow;
was as good as it gets
to tumbling over the edge of heaven
just to be cast in granite
and dropped
into an ocean of Hades.

I am simply
playing chess
with humans,
and I am
a pawn in white
opposing every check
that slips
through my fingers;
until I get dropped into the basket
of death.

Until I get placed back
On the board for another game.