Chess Queen & King
Choose quickly be brisk &
Have uncials no-risk
Entreaties slice pi
So genies benign
Slide nonesuches; sing
Chess Queen & King (triple acrostic)
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Tag Archives: ceramic sculpture
Four New Faces
This morning brought a three-hour session of improvisational sculpting at PIP Coffee & Clay. I broke some new ground by doing the heads of the larger-scale chess king and queen using pinch-pot technique rather than wheel-throwing for their heads. It seems a more intimate, tactile way to do portraiture.
Breakfast at PIP Coffee and Clay…
B@PC&C…
Burrito veggie
Time slot wedgy
Avian friends made here
Water & coffee
Riffraff* roffy
Let’s make hist’ry dear
.
*Yours truly, author & sculptor. 🙂
one silent, one yakking, neither a yak
a friendly looming chatterbox held court with his dark friend
in the valley of the sunshine where the shadows bring relief
and the dark beplumed nonlady wished the yakyakyak would end
but she sat in silent dignity
endured the long debrief
at long last the non-yak yakker asked her what she made of it
and she cocked her head in thought and looked her friend up in the eye
and she shrugged; allowed a birdbrain like her didn’t give a whit
she just wished for unlocked wings and open windows for to fly
and her friend reared up and clacked his beak but grinned and said exactly
and you know that’s what i’ve thought for years and added good for you
and his friend beak-smiled at all the nonsense
said matter-of-factly
and kept to herself the evidence her pal’s a birdbrain too
Bishop Confers with Rook
Bishop Confers with Rook
Hey Rook, said the Bishop, the Queen’s Knight has his eye on me
I am threatened
How about defending me?
.
Can’t, said the Rook
You may well go down in a move or two
But it will be for the greater good
.
I don’t want to die! cried the Bishop
.
Cmon, Holy Father
You guys are born to be sacrificed
They might even make a saint out of you
.
You heartless pile of bricks! the Bishop sniped
You have never given me so much as the time of day
.
Not true, said the Rook
I pray for you every move
That you do the right thing
Now go to King’s Bishop Six
And we will win
.
Reluctantly the Bishop did as told
And the enemy Knight ran him through
And four moves later the Enemy was checkmated
According to the Maker’s plan
.
The Bishop sighed as he was put away
Another game another lancing of the heart
But every piece gets put away sooner or later
And, miraculously,
Each new game starts with Resurrection
And Re-Deployment
Sculpting the Black Queen
The Queen woke up as
I was adding a bulbous earring.
“You have changed me completely,” she scolded.
“I do not recognize myself.”
“Gone is my patrician nose
And my delightful androgyny
And the angular cut of my cheekbone.
Why?”
I shrugged.
“You are more You now.
You have defined eyes
And the innate regality of a survivor
And the hint of a smile
That sees you through the worst.
You are more real.”
She made me widen her eyes
And put a teardrop near the right lacrimal duct.
But of course when I did that
I had to do a dozen other things.
“You are making me more homely,” she complained.
“No. I am sculpting you, and you are sculpting me
Just as much. You are uniquely lovely
And your daughters will be lovelier still.”
This silenced her
And soon I was finished.
piece offering
the piece i made sunday looked a bit like oscar wilde/he also looked lonesome/so i made him some friends
in a couple of days they will dry/and at a proper time/into the kiln they will go
and soon they will have a board to stand on
and more friends
and friendly foes
Chess Pawn, Bastille Day 2025
Despite having created her, I know little about this sweet old lady except that she is a work in progress and is surprised and overjoyed to exist.
Column O’Bird
Practicing chess piece stems grew tiresome,
So I did a glaring bird,
And then the bird
And the largest of the stems
Decided to mate.
I give it ten years at most
Because that’s what I give
Myself.
QxQB
Darling
said the King
the enemy is breaking through
and I am vulnerable
.
Sweetie
said the Queen
it is time for me to do what I must
give us a kiss
.
a kiss and she was off
and quickly felled after taking the Bishop
on the enemy’s Queen side
and her capture exposed the enemy’s flank
and the Queen’s Rook quickly moved to the seventh rank
and thanks to the brave Queen’s sacrifice
the enemy was defeated
but her King
was more vulnerable than ever
and devastated.
One with Clay, Image and Text 