The Insecurity Of Bonaparte Poem by Martin Lochner

stained board with indian
black perimeters

a confined checkered
alphabet calculator that
notates elegent moves
while the banished
clock ticks away

laboring french pions marching
lowly but steadily
one step at a time

frustrated cavalry knights
jump over rook walls 'jump' not 'jumps'
side stepping
crooked abbey bishops

the strategem plot concluding
the king finds his queen

saying

for God's sake I toppled 'God's' with an apostrophe
the whole flat booted world

submit i say my lady
the courtesan queen smiles
checkmate my lord
you are on your own

Napoleon abruptly leaving the
table to stroll the Alba beaches

thinking how Josephine warms up
to a other player...
thinking waterloo nullifies everything