Prodigy

BY CHARLES SIMIC
I grew up bent over
a chessboard.
I loved the word endgame.
All m cous!ns loo"ed worr!ed.
It was a small house
near a Roman graveard.
#lanes and tan"s
shoo" !ts w!ndowpanes.
A ret!red pro$essor o$ astronom
taught me how to pla.
%hat must have been !n &'((.
In the set we were us!ng)
the pa!nt had almost ch!pped o$$
the blac" p!eces.
%he wh!te *!ng was m!ss!ng
and had to be subst!tuted $or.
I+m told but do not bel!eve
that that summer I w!tnessed
men hung $rom telephone poles.
I remember m mother
bl!nd$old!ng me a lot.
She had a wa o$ tuc"!ng m head
suddenl under her overcoat.
In chess) too) the pro$essor told me)
the masters pla bl!nd$olded)
the great ones on several boards
at the same t!me.
Charles S!m!c) ,#rod!g- $rom Charles Simic: Selected Early Poems. Copr!ght . &''' b Charles S!m!c. Repr!nted w!th the
perm!ss!on o$ /eorge Bra0!ller) Inc.