Marriage Counseling Over a Game of Go
There are 391 points on this
Go board for us to position where
we feel our most confident.
Where we think we can gain the most
if we block the points on the
hundreds of compass roses before us.
When you move the black stones into each cross section
the way one builds the foundation for a cairn,
I think about how each gap you leave
makes me feel when I look into
your eyes after you make your play.
Smooth, obsidian, with my reflection
within them curling like a wave on the shore.
I rub a white stone between my fingertips
the way you may rub that amethyst
in your pocket before each interview.
You asked me to play Go with you because
you didn’t want your mind to become
stagnant. You wanted to see
if you could build territories
that snaked and bent
across the earthen board.
Every second of silence
before you let the black stone pathway
expand is a moment for you
to become more assured in your
growth and power.
I want to help you continue this growth,
to ensure that you can cover the world
in shadows.
However, you’ve asked me to
lay pearls down and encroach upon
your new world.
You ask me to threaten you,
to challenge you,
to make you fearful.
Once we put the stones away
and share a warm mug of plum wine
after we play, I hope you can still
see me as the person who supported you,
even as I forced you into resignation
by taking away your liberties.
Video Games
On a small street off DuPont Circle,
two figures hidden in the evening
are huddled close together.
Their forms merge into a stoop,
their shadows blend with the ones
cast by the apartment complex across from them.
One of them exposes himself
with the light of his smartphone,
his glasses reflecting back
the album art on screen.
I hear the voice of Lana spill
out into that February evening air.
She claims that
Heaven is a place on Earth with you.
I wonder if these two,
lost in the space where the street lamps
were torn out to widen the road,
could call this their own personal paradise,
or just a place to wait for their rideshare.
People could walk by without
even knowing they were there
in the world built for two.
Well, at least
now I do.