03-09-2026, 01:58 PM
1.5 revised feel free to help me make any corrections. I'm learning how to make my allusions more clear.
Two Squares and a Mule
White plays first—
the hand that reaches down,
Checked—
cheating Black with a bishop.
Black pawn, patient, escapes—
claims two squares and a mule.
For eight ranks—
a humble start.
He finds solace as shackled feet trudge,
posts out of line
with his brothers.
The leader blows—
a wooden whistle.
The kingless castling comes
as white drives his herd forward—
they come howling.
Clubbed Knight posts poised,
fearless against a mob.
The reverend’s pale rage
posts adjacent—
an evangelical threat.
The pawn stabs the angel—
turning pale
as she faces the mob.
This time white does not reach or wait.
Paleness chases.
Every piece stumbles.
Captured.
Black groans—
his tightened chains
no longer bind him to a board
as he’s led to the post.
White takes a whip,
cracks the naked knight.
A fiery torch rises nearby.
As white prepares to sell,
clutching their breeches—
pale hands weighing silver.
The mob—
a howling herd.
Some wear horns, some wear cones—
but all are pale.
Black waits patiently,
watching the swaying flame—
its crimson glow lingers
like the raw, pale runaway
on his neck.
The bold pawn is raised.
His wife resists
as they rip the chains from her wrists.
The pale name the price
and haggle her lower—
“Oh lame, oh lame,” they say.
Sold.
Pale weeps fall—
“I do”
in guilty tears.
The Best Man—
as tall as a pine,
swole as an ox,
the same marking burned on his neck.
They haggle.
His brother cries openly, unpoised—
pleading, anguished tears,
then restful, rolling eyes.
White remarks:
“This ox is smart—
he can raise your posts, pull your wagons as a spare.
Two legs and two stubs,
but those nubs could be hooves
if you give him a pulley to trudge.”
Neck chained—
hooves scrape.
He chokes
as he's dredged astray—
down the line.
Sold.
Darkness falls.
The mob is gone.
Sooted, scrawny, shaken—
the reverend sees the pawn as a spare.
So the reverend
raises him to a tree.
As the pawn looks down the pine
the pale wooden board below—
never becomes a queen.
Captured.
Kingless checkmate.
Two Squares and a Mule
White plays first—
the hand that reaches down,
Checked—
cheating Black with a bishop.
Black pawn, patient, escapes—
claims two squares and a mule.
For eight ranks—
a humble start.
He finds solace as shackled feet trudge,
posts out of line
with his brothers.
The leader blows—
a wooden whistle.
The kingless castling comes
as white drives his herd forward—
they come howling.
Clubbed Knight posts poised,
fearless against a mob.
The reverend’s pale rage
posts adjacent—
an evangelical threat.
The pawn stabs the angel—
turning pale
as she faces the mob.
This time white does not reach or wait.
Paleness chases.
Every piece stumbles.
Captured.
Black groans—
his tightened chains
no longer bind him to a board
as he’s led to the post.
White takes a whip,
cracks the naked knight.
A fiery torch rises nearby.
As white prepares to sell,
clutching their breeches—
pale hands weighing silver.
The mob—
a howling herd.
Some wear horns, some wear cones—
but all are pale.
Black waits patiently,
watching the swaying flame—
its crimson glow lingers
like the raw, pale runaway
on his neck.
The bold pawn is raised.
His wife resists
as they rip the chains from her wrists.
The pale name the price
and haggle her lower—
“Oh lame, oh lame,” they say.
Sold.
Pale weeps fall—
“I do”
in guilty tears.
The Best Man—
as tall as a pine,
swole as an ox,
the same marking burned on his neck.
They haggle.
His brother cries openly, unpoised—
pleading, anguished tears,
then restful, rolling eyes.
White remarks:
“This ox is smart—
he can raise your posts, pull your wagons as a spare.
Two legs and two stubs,
but those nubs could be hooves
if you give him a pulley to trudge.”
Neck chained—
hooves scrape.
He chokes
as he's dredged astray—
down the line.
Sold.
Darkness falls.
The mob is gone.
Sooted, scrawny, shaken—
the reverend sees the pawn as a spare.
So the reverend
raises him to a tree.
As the pawn looks down the pine
the pale wooden board below—
never becomes a queen.
Captured.
Kingless checkmate.