The Chessboard
By Aarthi P
The chess board,
Magnets falling off and pieces losing their grip,
Disjointed colours,
Unwillingly joining
With its wrinkled surface
Black and White
Black and white
Like a flickering roll of old film
Where my mother and sister spent their evenings
Hunched over small pieces
Moving far and wide across the board
Like travellers across a sea
With its folding hinges,
the pieces put inside it,
Make a rattling sound
Like marbles dropping onto wooden floors
Ooh’ed and ahh’ed over,
Fought and argued over,
And put back into the cupboard
Only to be taken back out the next day.