You do not have to Go Directly To Jail
or be forced to spend your hard-won money on little plastic houses,
feeling despondent because you only finished second in the beauty competition,
before facing bankruptcy from an unplanned stay in a Mayfair hotel.

You do not have to advance each pawn just one square at a time,
or face being skewered by that pesky bishop
and threatened by the leaping assaults of the white knights,
before losing as your King falls (even though your Queen remains standing tall).

You do not have to play with the rest of the world,
following unwritten rules so carefully designed
to give the impression of fairness and even that you could win
whilst guaranteeing that you will always lose.

You can choose to play a different game,
with different rules or perhaps no rules at all.
Turn the first card - spin the spinner - roll the dice.
Play in the world at your own game.

(c) Tim O’Hare, August 2024

---

About this poem: The essential idea for this poem had been rattling around in my head for some time. In fact, I’d say that the seed of inspiration for it was probably planted in my brain back in February 2023 when I listened to the audiobook version of the excellent ‘What Works’ by Tara McMullin. As often happens, I worked out the basic structure and form of a good chunk of the poem while out on a long run so that the process of sitting down to write the whole thing out was very quick and easy!