by Dave Day
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| Russian President Vladimir Putin's "grave mistake" to invade Ukraine may yet foment popular or elite rebellion, Leonid Volkov, chief of staff of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has told Newsweek, as Moscow's offensive stalls and international sanctions bite. |
Navalny’s pawn moved forward two,
While Putin scanned the board’s positions.
The Bishops dare not stage a coup,
To grovel slips them fat commissions.
The Knights are paid, their horses watered.
They follow oaths to wanton slaughter.
The oligarchs are faithful crooks,
And perfect stand-ins for the Rooks.
His Queen? Ukraine ran off with Europe.
Cuckold Putin, cuckold grief,
He Novichok’ed Navalny’s briefs.
But *hush-hush* Putin’s eyes, they welled up.
The game’s not lost, Kasparov wrote.
What happens when the Pawns promote?
Dave Day is an attorney from Honolulu, Hawaii, and is a numismatist who focuses on currency from the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Dave has published poetry in The Ekphrastic Review and extremely nonpoetic articles in the Emory International Law Review and the Hawaii Bar Journal.