Different Boards

Is this what multi-dimensional chess
being played as policy
is supposed to feel like
because to me, I feel like
I’m in a game of Chutes and Ladders
with grenades being tossed in
for their amusement.

The board is changed:
the chutes lined with glass,
the ladders slippery,
my turn always ending
in starting over.

The game is rigged:
their strategy a smokescreen -
destabilization, destruction,
then pieces cleared away
before they call it victory.

But we are not playing the same game.
I am bound to dice, to numbered squares,
counting steps and obeying turns,
while they move in silence
across another board entirely,
one I am not meant to see.

They know exactly what they are doing.
They let me play,
let me believe
I am one roll away
from the blue ribbon square.
That is their strategy.



Poetry by Melinda K Zarate The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 75 times
Written on 2026-04-09 at 00:07

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Sameen The PoetBay support member heart!
That is. That is. You've got it and expressed it very intelligently.
2026-04-12


jim The PoetBay support member heart!
You have a way of using description in such a unique way. Every poem is an exploration in ideas and words and perspective utterly your own.
2026-04-10


Griffonner The PoetBay support member heart!
You've cleverly transposed the 'system' into a poem, Melinda. I have always remembered listening to a member of the UK 'hierarchy' answering the question something like, "Can ordinary people get to a point of earning that kind of money?" His answer was to grin and say, "They don't realise we've cut the rungs off the ladder." Get it? Funnily enough, another interpretation of your metaphorical game board. I hope that one day (I'd love it to be in my lifetime) when the populace discover how to change the system entirely. I am an advocator of 'basic income' - that would be a peaceful start to such a transition. That's why the system hasn't got the guts to implement it full scale. Blessings, Allen
2026-04-09