RISK

I was wandering around Asia
but couldn't unite it, to earn seven pieces per turn,
wasting my military on a failed conquest stretched thin.
Australia, meanwhile, was a steady income for my enemy.
In Risk, securing smaller areas first is how you win. 

I was trying to unite Asia
and beat back the sea invaders from England and the United States,
but the separated provinces and tribes of Asia will never win.
Unless the transnational fuses my exploits somehow.
Communism? Can that unite the pieces from the yellow box, 
from Siam to Kamchatka stretched dangerously thin?

And there is a continent in my mind, much too large to know:
I will never conquer it and my armies will never grow.

I will change the rules. But I must do it diplomatically
Let's allow Risk armies to become navies and move to sea. 
If others agree how inaccurate this game has been,
perhaps I can dominate the Pacific; 
threaten Alaska and Australia;
create a new game, a new world---and win. 

The dice rolls have not been my friend,
but might the cards (each with a picture of a province) be laid calmly down
and indicate a revolution in Eastern Europe or the Middle East?
I am changing the rules, again. Oh let me have my fun, 
dull Risk players with your fortunate dice.
Listen to me, at least!

Now there are continents in my mind where everything is permitted.
Complexity is balanced for both geniuses and the dimwitted.  

If I have Eastern Europe in my hand---
I've been hoarding her in front of me for days---
I can declare a revolution, and the pieces, green, blue or black,
will turn to yellow---communism grows; once human ingenuity and pride are pricked,
from Venezuela to the Congo,
there's no turning back.

I am sitting next to my brother, a rival in Asia,
who is not laughing this afternoon,
his son, his temporary ally.  He's in the mood to win.
Is this my brother?
He vetoes my new rules, he shakes his dice in my direction;
he eyes my yellow pieces
from Mexico to Kamchatka stretched dangerously thin. 

Will there be a continent in my mind, much too large to know?
Will I never conquer it, and my armies never  grow? 

You underestimated me.
You knew me. You knew my height. My face. My name.
You knew my favorite color is yellow.
Yellow. It's always been yellow.
Excuse my glee! Yellow. Yellow.
This is why I won the game.