Winners of the ‘On the Bus’ Competition- University of Kent 2012
Stink Bug
You can touch it; pin pricks that crawl among the stems. Fragile, bruised like a peach with puffy eyes. You hold it, transport it, box it.
Like the eclipse of a vein it begins its ascent. Closer it approaches, ever moving, ever testing the air. Takes flight-
Change places; you and it can reverse. Channel a whisper through your limbs and lose yourself, split like the contours of a leaf.
The Missing Piece
It’s not as insignificant and sacrificial as the pawn with its one step, two step cross over take.
Not as whimsical as the diagonal bishop, the first people remember in conversation but the last in a game.
It’s not as independent as the knight with its ‘L’ darting; carousel across the board. Not so much a strong and steady protector but an aid; an aid for the-
Ice queen, with her aloof dignity that makes grown men cry, a ruby underwater.
And not like the king at all who hides, face pressed to the wire when war approaches; but houses all his courtiers and people.
It’s nothing but a barrier.
-A game that’s not a game, but a darkened board.
Copyright © 2012 by Kate W J White (All Rights Reserved)
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