Pingpong

I am seventeen
Standing in an empty
Three-car garage in my
Backyard arranging a ping
Pong table on its side to paint
White with dark blue seas
Gray mountains and red
Cities a map of Europe
During the Second
World War black
Thread marking
A grid for naval
And army units
A model to
Test how
To win
Or
Lose
The war
Around me
All my life echos
Of a conflict in strategies
I will later write my dissertation
On how to plan as allies who
Like couples have some
Interests overlap but
Never match like
Most marriages
Where holding
An alliance
Together
Is not
Easy
For the
Heart rules
The head unless
You purge your hate
Or love to embrace analysis
Objective not subjective
And if I laugh at petty
Prejudice or joke at
Shibboleths it is
So as not
To cry
At those
Who believe
But do not think
Those who see only
Shadows on the cave
Wall but will not look deeper
Watching the pingpong
Ball not my map
On the table
Armchair
Players.