As I type this I am playing the ancient Chinese game of Go (Weiqi) with someone whom I have never met over the internet. I am in Chicago and he is in Seoul. We can not speak to each other as we do not share any common languages. After the game is over, we will likely never have any contact again. We are thousands of miles apart in distance and ideals.
We are in a ‘seki’ position in which neither player has any evident advantage. The pace of the game is slow and dreamy. I have time in between moves to make tea and distribute treats to the cats. I am concentrating so fiercely that I can hear no sound.
Then he makes an ‘uttegee,’ a sacrifice play. Some primitive part of my brain senses that this is an error. I fret, turning the board around in my head. My neighbor, a young woman who is working toward a career as a singer, but who is almost completely without talent, sings woefully to herself in the hallway. I am in a spatial purgatory, waiting for the stones to find their proper place in the cosmos. I wait.
Finally, I can see and I place my stone. The game is over now, even though it will not end for another hour or so. The tide has come in and removed the last remnants of a castle built on a far away shore.
12 comments:
Beautiful and rich imagery. Loved the neighbor singing woefully, and the feeling of an end before a true "game over".
terri, thanks, that is kind of you to say.
I used to play Go when I was younger. Life has not allowed such a time privilege anymore. I miss it.
It's true, playing with that unknown player must feel like bumping into stranger, but in a much more peaceful way because it's Go.
magnolia, I too find Go to be quite peaceful.
nice...very nice imagery..
I vote this 'best post" :)
The whole image is fascinating. And very intriguing to me that we have come to this point where you interact with someone you couldn't even speak with in person.
This is like a poem. "Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance." Carl Sandburg
jade, thanks
debbie, the world has changed so much since I was a kid.
dbs, that is a nice sentiment.
Are you sure you were just writing about a game of Go?
gw, everything is metaphor.
What a wonderfully told story. As your readers have noted, so rich in images and metaphor. It speaks simply and eloquently of who we are, in the world of this moment.
mk, that is very kind of you to say.
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