Tuesday Chess Poem by Eleonora Nieuwjaar

Tuesday Chess

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I played chess the other day. At Tuesday wasn’t it?
With you. On my mind, that is, as I was playing against
him – this gentleman with more history than future, I sensed.
That night, this silent battle felt as being a prolonged sit,

as I carefully maneuvered this developing queen’s gambit,
full of starling delight. While persistently hustling
for a stable interpose, his black pawns were marching boldly
ahead without any fear – an impressive but dangerous habit

in my experience. It was until my bishop, located at G4,
so warlike and stout, whispered your beautiful name.
Your explicit – but hidden – sign to ignite me for true war,

for cruising to triumph – squeezing the meanest of mates.
But then my dear, you got careless I must say. I lost the soul
of the play. Or was it you, already in desperate straits?

Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Topic(s) of this poem: love
POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
The rhyme scheme of the “Dutch” sonnet is a-b-b-a a-b-b-a c-d-c d-c-d and has been used by Martinus Nijhoff and many other Dutch poets. This rhyme scheme is different that a Shakespearean sonnet with a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g where the last two lines are a rhyming couplet.

The first two stanzas of Tuesday Chess consist of four lines, the quatrains. Together, these verses are called the octave. The last two stanzas each have three lines, the tercets. These verses are called the sextet. After the octave is a substantive turn, also called ‘chute’ or ‘volta’.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Sylvia Frances Chan 24 April 2021

I am a Dutch Poetess, but I only know sonnets like that of Shakespeare. Your dutch one is very interesting but for me too problematic. This dutch Sonnet is full of brilliance, I have enjoyed

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