Dogmatic Statement concerning the Game of Chess: Theme for a Series of PicturesAuthor(s): Ezra PoundSource: Poetry, Vol. 5, No. 6 (Mar., 1915), p. 257Published by: Poetry FoundationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20570309 .

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Game of Chess

And he said, "Have you seen any of our lot?"

I'd seen a lot of his lot . . .

ever since Rhodez, Coming down from the fair

of St. John, With caravans, but never an ape or a bear.

DOGMATIC STATEMENT CONCERNING THE GAME OF CHESS:

THEME FOR A SERIES OF PICTURES

Red knights, brown bishops, bright queens, Striking the board, falling in strong "l"s of color, Reaching and striking in angles,

holding lines in one color. This board is alive with light;

these pieces are living in form, Their moves break and reform the pattern:

Luminous green from the rooks, Clashing with "x"s of queens,

looped with the knight-leaps.

"Y"' pawns, cleaving, embanking! Whirl! Centripetal! Mate! King down in the vortex, Clash, leaping of bands, straight stripe of hard color, Blocked light working in. Escapes. Renewing of contest.

Ezra Pound

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