Trapped In chess

By Andres D. Fernandez-Carrasco

This poem is about my experience at the Super National Chess Tournament
in Kansas City, Missouri, in April 2001.


7000 kids sit
d
0
w
n
to play one round of chess.
Three thousand boards; one hundred and
twelve thousand pieces, one you.


You're nervous
You 're worried
You're biting
Your nails.


You 're an exposed king
You're a checked king
You're a mated king
But there's no place else you'd
rather be, because


You're trapped.
Trapped in the world of
Chess!