(Note: These poems use palimpsest and memory, framed within a context of chess game theory, to explore psycho-social relationships in the concrete and abstract.)
from Margot
[4]
a queen rook slays bishop
but only a king can kill a king
witness Claudius in incest’s bedding
king on king slay
as a child at elder’s table
sits soon at the head
as recognition of motion always follows tide
an eclipse lunar if that assists
divined from calculations
abandoned by giants
or just one
to sit in retrospect is an abandonment
renamed forfeit
memory a childhood
branches strings metal well cast
or just one
an eclipse
and women who speak of birthstones
objects evade a terminus
a father’s name evoke a fixed station and
plot quite old
from Margot
[5]
the way that the women look the same the docks of any port city
tractor against the peasant soil
the regal prerogative
as this word replaces that which preceded
as image is mere symbol
the conscription of the poor
from Margot
[6]
the cornerstones to a lair
or else sidewalk headed north wind
against face
or else building protected
the lake against sky horizon
or else Chicago some other district
or perhaps Detroit a little further afield
the deer are all Chinese
or they are pheasants well out of season
or a cornerstone to a lair kept well hidden
perhaps a blind downwind
apple orchard on this centennial field
or blocks of rental housing boarded
slave trade route terminus or random mile marker railroad
trestle or yard filled with thicket
About the Author
David Harrison Horton is a Beijing-based writer, artist, editor and curator. He is author of Maze Poems (Arteidolia, 2022) and Necessary (forthcoming from Downingfield Press in 2025). His latest chap, Model Answer, was released by CCCP Chapbooks/subpress in 2024. His work has recently appeared in The Belfast Review, Roi Fainéant, Mantis and Yolk, among others. He edits the poetry zine SAGINAW. davidharrisonhorton.com
