QUARK QUARK

QUARK QUARK

I was fishing for quarks
in my mind
whilst playing chess

sometimes the serendipity
of the game
appeals

but not today where
every move is
wrong and
I am getting
battered to Hell

feudal and hierarchical
totally unforgiving on the surface
and in its depth

yet as gorgeous Gary,
incomparable attacker knew
it is all
      metaphor, life
lesson

this
    from the outset

as he rotates his way at
the table
     through every conceivable
variation of every conceivable defence

exuding Russian intensity
and Russian charm

(test and you will see
in exactly
      equal meaaure)

meanwhile the quaeks in my
brain are less like
sharks
     in the ocean than
Koi in a pond

all flash
      but no dash

my game in its death throes
thinking of the
great wizard of
Reykjavik
                his brilliance so
beyond me
beyond anything I am

I scan, I plan
      only the odd good move

bobbing up
     to greet me only when
could not be more obvious

quark
quark

nothing moving
from my side of  the board

                             not now

not ever