When hearts attack

When hearts attack

He sent boy crying, whipped from field;

Such joy to wield pain till they yield.

Knights and bishops were grim, cruel tools

To take apart heart, break poor fools.

For his next foe, a sweet girl sat,

Demure allure in wide-brimmed hat,

With floral dress; would not impress

This torturer who just loved chess.

Pawns charged her way, with brutal aim,

He would not need a plan this game.

Strangely though, his attacks faltered;

To his shock, the tide had altered.

Maid sac'd one rook, then the other.

“This is for crushing my brother.”

He saw she'd, as queen swooped to kill,

Played man and board with equal skill.

wht is this, a poem?

I thought it was a bridge joke, when reading the title.

(uninteresting note : I don't know if it is the case anywhere else, but here in France, many chess clubs share buildings with bridge clubs, because they have the same kind of requirements, it's cheaper, and bridge and chess players are the same kind of livestock so they get along well. Except when both are preparing for tournament XXX at the same time and need the room.)

Uh yes, slim, its the 13th chess poem I have posted on this site.  Glad to see my fame is so widespread.  ><

Nicely written sir.  Thanks.

Nice one. ;)

Thanks guys.  I confess, I wrote most of it on a napkin, sitting in Subway last night.

Great poem. I enjoyed the irony of the girl being the sister of the opponent and the element of revenge, seeking to avenge the brother's loss.

I also enjoyed the "played man and board with equal skill" juxtaposition.

Thanks, learning.  My interest was mainly in little word plays like the title and "heart, break", along with using three rhymes over two lines in couple of places like field,wield,yield and dress,impress,chess - I have been trying to inject new mechanisms which I hadnt considered before into recent stuff.  No doubt they are old hat to real poets but I cant bring myself to read poetry unless it is light comic stuff or true classics like Coleridge, so I really do not know the technical stuff I should learn.

This is weird.

I recently played in a tournament. The fourth round, I played a 9-year-old girl. Only after the game did I find out that I played her older brother in the first round!

BTW You should post your poems on Poemhunter.com. You get to have your name among the famous poets of the past, as well as the aspiring poets of the present!

I was going to post my stuff on google sites, since there are stories and puzzles too and I would like to keep them all together and organise the way I want to.  Something I have been meaning to get round to doing.  There is nonchess stuff as well and I have been trying to think how to do it, off work tomorrow so will have a try.  I really hate playing against children at chess for a few reasons:  They usually are stronger than their rating since they improve so much in a year, they usually take things horribly seriously and you have to constantly remove thoughts of giving them a chance.

One girl I played twice was in the Scottish juniors team and I got one draw, one win but lucky to do so.  Another boy seemed totally crushed that this adult had managed to trick him.  Wait till he grows up and meets girls.  ><