Ping-Pong War

Ping-Pong was a game
We took seriously
When I was a kid,
And our house
Was the center
Of the competition.
To stimulate our battles,
I came up
With the idea
Of playing for countries.
I drew up a large map
Showing all the nations,
States and areas
Of the world.
Those lands were divided
Between the competitors,
And each player
Was assigned a color
And given pins
To serve as flags
To mark their territory.
We went to war
With each other
Battling for countries
Trying to dominate the world,
Winner take all.
English was used
To put a spin on things
And to rebuild
The British Empire.
Even the Ottoman Empire
Was reborn.
The Soviet Union,
Canada and the United States
Were splintered
As state battled state.
We were Ping-Pong dictators
Long before Forest Gump
And the advent
Of Ping-Pong diplomacy.
Years later I traveled
Through many of those countries,
Chuckling as I remembered
Staking my flag in their soil.