Best Checkers Poems
Racist checkers- ego-fueled.
Back and forth they go.
Jump me once, I'll jump you twice.
Careening toward the darkest back row.
Nothing left but two lonely pieces.
Forever frozen in opposite corners.
Staring over a checkered past.
Over a field of a burned-out dream.
If I could go back
For just a day
Even just a few hours
I would set up the board
Put each checker in it's place
I would see
Really see
Grandpa across the table
Him with his furrowed brow.
I would be less concerned
Less focused on winning
I would relish his laugh
Listen carefully to his tales
Record them
indelibly on my mind's eye
Combining
Past
Present
Future
I would see
The eccentricities of me
Passed on in perpetuity
His playfulness
The keenness of his former mind
Before the disease stole what was left behind
With each play the minutes would pass
I would take my time
Make them last
There would be questions to ask
Sadly the time is gone
The board has been put away
It's a game I no longer play
It was our special thing
He left long ago
On angels wings
Yet one day
When this
Life has passed
He will be there and I will ask
"Set up the board
It's time to play.
We can take our time
We have all day."
I ain't surprised by anything I hear on the news nowadays!
The way the gov'mint is bein' run just leaves me in a daze!
This mornin' I heard another of Obama's schemes has gone sour!
Seems that this lulu will add more to China's balance of power!
His stim-scheme gave millions to the A123 Systems Company in Michigan,
To make batteries for hybrid autos - his much-touted transportation plan!
He boasted to workers that this would fuel the economy for years to come,
Yet, it seems the place has gone south and its operations will succumb!
'Tis well-known that we are in hock to the Chinese for a ton of bucks,
And here is the irony of the sorry scheme and a most important crux;
China is buying the place with our money - the whole kit and caboodle!
American taxpayers are left holding the bag - not worth a Chinese noodle!
You won't find this story on MSNBC, CNN or CBS - only on Fox News!
Other media will support Barak no matter what, spewing their biased views!
Hey! That's our hard-earned tax money you're blowin' Barak Hussein!
Are you gonna cut your wasteful spendin'? We're waitin' for you to explain!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
© All Rights Reserved
Two kings were playing checkers. One challenged the other to a dual over lunch. The first king took a bite of his salami sandwich. And oh what a pickle he was in! The second king jumped two of his pieces and then took two! “Check!” he said proudly. “Check?” questioned the other. “How is it that I only turned my head briefly and you have called check?” “No, no!” shouted the other. I knew I was going to lose so I called the waitress for my receipt.
Written by Gwendolen Rix
10-21-14
Knocking down trees with your face
Describes skiing so I play Checkers in place
Coz the worst that can happen
Your opponent gets mad and
Pulls out a gun and you are erased
Let me tell you a story about two friends
and all the wisdom this story lends
two men play checkers every day
each hold in their mind memories that stay
both are widowers living their final years
they keep in their pain and all of their tears
in old, crumpled hats and wrinkled overalls
they'll stay and play checkers until the night falls
in between moves they'll speak of their youth
their marriage, their children, their living truth
both are aging vets, both fought in a war
though never speak of it, days of blood and gore
they try to remember the days of their return
then to wrestle with memories etched in that burn
with wrinkled hands and swollen fingers, slightly bent
and years of tobacco that carry a strong scent
strong Cuban coffee is always there
sipped from an old cup of earthenware
the game is unimportant, it's the time they spend
through the last years, before life comes to an end
they play in a park with children around
the noise they hear heals and feels profound
some of the children will watch them play
others only look then run by them away
they're passing time in their timeless realm
so, the years of loneliness will not overwhelm
they walk with a shuffle as they finally leave
as for tomorrow, with each breath, they will cleave
4/15/22
contest Form-N-Narrative...LIFE
sponsor Constance La France
Checkers!!!
Black and red squares
going nowhere
you move up, down, horizontal almost everywhere
Jump me , I jump you
Move to the other ends of the square
old one new ones too
All intellectuals do
Crown me, king me, I statically grin
You won, I win, whose next who's in
this a game of
Checkers???
Terror driven the thunderstorm outside
Animals are uncomfortable and wet
There is no willing earthly place to hide
Grandma sits and knits as aunt and uncle fret
There is a pause, the lightning not well set
Gray thunder roars as loud as any train
Across from grandpa I move my checker and yet
Unnamed feelings cause me a bit of strain
Knowing some are out there in the horrid rain
Written June 22, 2018
For Summer Rain Storm Contest
Dale Gregory Cozart, Sponsor
Checkers what a game,
I do not want to go down in a flame.
You jump me,
then I jump you as fast as can be.
Fun for young and old,
this I have been told.
With coins in black and red,
we can play until one is dead.
Rethink your move,
before I approve.
Win-win-win,
did I make your head spin.
Date Written: 10/10/2020
2 Place Games - Mental or Physical Contest Judged:10/20/2020
Sponsored by: William Kekaula
Sometimes I play checkers with a grizzly bear
He always wins I don't care
Red or black I let him choose
And I always make sure that I lose
Once I decided to win a game
He got angry and went insane
Snatched up his board and went home
Left me bleeding and all alone
Nobody plays a good game of checkers anymore,
Squared off like fierce, ruthless fiends
Hunched over, hypnotized by crowned kings
And heavy losses spent of jubilee
You can't plug in a checkerboard
Or marvel at the clink, clink, clink
Of counting blips against green bumpers,
Though a black can disappear like magic
Beneath a sweeping scarred and reddened hand.
Nobody plays a good game of checkers anymore.
SECOND PLACE WINNER
Submitted to "Gems That Slipped Through the Cracks"
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
We play checkers....God plays chess
Our quick game of checkers usually result
in distress...
He knows all ....sees all
Don’t need a crystal ball...
In silent rescue...He plays His game of chess;
always 10 moves ahead
working on our hasty chaotic mess...
All the while we boil in the oil of impatience;
contemplating our fate...
Before we know it...God says —checkmate!
Enter Poet, clutching a sonnet: ‘The checker says I’m guilty. See, it flagged my rhyme as machine!!’
Podcaster nods sagely: ‘It is not your imagination; it is proof the robots haunt our dreams.’
Audience gasps: 'That’s NOTHing. SHAKEspeare ALso ONCE acCUSED – / preDICTable Iambs, GROSS susPIcious RUSE!'
Poet protests: ‘I swear it’s quill and ink, not silicon and code …’
Checker blinks, statistical gears grinding: ‘Patterns resemble algorithmic load.’
While phubbing, critic whispers: ‘False positives thrive where meter marches tight.’
Podcaster grins: ’Ignorance sells—truth is dull, paranoia bites.’
Poet sighs: ‘Convenient shield, this oracle of error—‘
Exasperated, Curtain falls: ‘Disinformation thrives when denial meets terror.’
From the wings, Thomas Gray’s quietly haunting voice: ‘Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.’*
______________________________________________________________________________________________
*From the final stanza of Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, by Thomas Gray (1716–71).
Completed tasks announced by check
I'd rather chat but what the heck
I'll take you when and how you choose to give
Just hearing from you makes my day
It doesn't matter what the way
I'll leave it up to you to act the sieve
Sifting out the times we talk
My favorite one is when you walk
And call, your sweet voice get I to relive