Reading My Bishops

White       Black
P-K4        P-K4
N-KB3     N-QB3
B-N5        P-QR3
B-R4        N-B3

There was a time when I played chess, read chess books by the hour, practiced.  My favorite piece on the board was the bishop.  Loved to move diagonally.  Little did I know that I would grow up to be moved around the state of Indiana by a real-live bishop (though I never moved diagonally), and little did I know, back then, that Elizabeth Bishop was such a good poet.

I've been reading her Collected Poems.  Her most famous poem, "The Fish", is one I read in college.  But I'm enjoying reading her work now.  Many of her best poems manage to exude both a dramatic flair and a bit of humor, which I appreciate.

She writes about every-day events, circumstances, and domestic issues.  I appreciate these, too. 

Here's a bit I wrote some years ago on the eve of my son's first driving experience.  Any parent who has helped a son or daughter learn how to drive can appreciate the sentiments.

Rookie

My son, the driver, is sixteen . . .
The youngest I have ever seen.
He's raised my car insurance rates
To stratospheric postulates
Of actuarial malaise.
I parent strict.  I offer praise.
And odds, like dice, are rolled each trip.
Though in my firm dictatorship
I only hope he will not crash
Until I've banked a lot more cash.

PS...for all you chess freaks out there, the opening sequence of chess moves above is known as the "Ruy Lopez".