J’adoube

Jesse Doiron

June 7, 2026

Wage the battle well, m’Lord.

Today we will proclaim

A victory triumphant

All beneath your name.

You sacrifice your soldiers’ lives.

It is indeed a shame,

But there’s an empire they must build,

fashioned in your name.

Have the bugles call them forth,

The canons to take aim.

Call the order for the charge.

Echo loud your name.

Watch the bravest of them all

Fall early in the game.

Order then the second ranks

Fight proudly in your name.

Your soldiers’ lives are sacrificed.

It is indeed a shame,

But there’s an empire to be built,

fashioned in your name.

So bury them and burn them

In pits or pyres of flame,

And raise them up some monuments

To manifest your name.

Wage the battle well, m’Lord.

Today, we will proclaim

A victory triumphant

And all beneath your name.

Jesse Doiron has worked in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia as an educator and consultant. His teaching experience ranges from English for international business at the UC – Berkeley Extension in San Francisco to creative writing at the Mark Stiles Maximum Security Prison for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Explication of “J’adoube”

The title is a French phrase meaning “I adjust.” It excuses a player from the rule requiring movement of any piece touched during play. Under j’adoube, a player may correct the placement of a sitting piece to clarify its place on the board without having to move it to another position on the board.

The poem masquerades as a panegyric. In fact, it is an encomium-in-cheek, praising a narcissistic leader intent on personal glory at the cost of his soldiers’ lives.

Chess is a metaphor for actual war. The poem depicts war as a game of chess. The American attack on Iran has been a poorly planned act of war against a well-prepared adversary.

While chess originated in India about 1,500 years ago, it spread within a few centuries to Persia (modern-day Iran) more than a thousand years ago. The Persian version of the game grew from its Indian roots and eventually developed many of the rules that most players still follow in the 21 st century.

With its emphasis on strategy and strength, chess is easily a metaphor for what we are experiencing today in the Middle East – a conflict that has brought strife and confusion to much of the world.

Donald Trump’s inept handling of battle, like a novice chess player, has given up the advantage of strength on the board to a weaker opponent who has the advantage of position on the board.

Checkmate seems an unlikely prize in Trump’s undeclared war. Stalemate seems the best Trump can obtain.