Love Poem: Checkmate
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Written by: Kristiana Bennett

Checkmate

Clever queen, I maneuvered my way through all of the subtle and most obvious plays 
Masterfully 
Sensual aestheticism, sexual teetotalism, romanticism, sadism, masochism, hedonism 
Calculating many moves in advance, I played the game mercilessly 
Surrounding my opponents with a plethora of carefully crafted traps 
I kept my love fortressed behind invisible walls that many broke themselves against 
Refusing to welcome my destruction by embracing the most pertinacious of instincts... 
I vowed never to surrender to the capricious whims of the human heart 
My fortress was freer than freedom, if the path to it was ephemeral love, 
Because it was constructed solidly and openly with the manifold pleasures of a solitary existence 
I'd rather be a prisoner of life than a fool walking a tenuous path, I concluded 
Until 
Him 
I, who prided myself on my wickedly razored skills, found myself disarmed and stepping blindly and willingly into the intricate skein of the softer human emotions 
I found myself happy, not a happiness derived from a place of ataraxis, 
But a happiness spawned from the most contradictory emotions 
It started more subtly than pure physical excitement 
Passing each other in treacherous currents in the midst of disaster 
I subconsciously dreamed he'd lay siege to my heart and submerge me in the torrents of a sweet and stormy love 
Passing casually, we'd share a look 
A smile 
A quick burst of energy 
Only to keep going about our business, blithely unaware of what was in store 
A chance encounter on a different playing field 
We engaged in conversation that led to engaged possibilities and realities 
The battle was so pure 
It gave birth to the beginning of a limitless and vulnerable affection 
He ensnared me with abstinence 
And then he conquered me by impenitent penetration 
I took him first into my soul, then into my core 
So that when he thrust into me, he tore a hole into the fabric of my reality 
My vision clouded 
My senses hummed 
Lines and shapes converged and diverged 
And I listened to my moans and raspy gasps as if from another place 
My body, ripe for his plundering 
And my convoluted mind, which had distrusted so long, learned to love and then to believe, were my gifts to him 
Like a bouquet of fire flowers, I detonate in celebration of his victory 
And gladly, I realize 
That he is my prison 
© All Textual Rights Reserved by Kristiana Bennett