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2022 Virginia Tech / Poetry Society of Virginia Prize

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Women Making a Scene

by Amanda Hodes

 

 

1. CCTV in silent static ; 2. Stairs you enter the scene from ; 3. Buffet, the next room over with bursts of high-pitched voices ; 5. Sister sobbing by the Cici’s line, almost in tune with “Love Shack” by the B-52s, until someone laughs and says, Girls are fun at that age, aren’t they? and you’re the only one shaking their head ; 6. Long Line where People snicker ; 7. Table that Mother rushes to, and as she sets down her purse, Father saying Wa-oh, you must be hungry! followed by her careful calculation ; 8. High stack of plates, chittering in slow motion ; 9. Refill station with its groan and growl of ice ; 11. Friend who shuts down a rape joke ; 12. Girls squealing over a video of puppies, unapologetic and downing slices, because, yes, we must be hungry ; 14. Grandma sucking in dentures while told not to worry, young lady, and rolling her eyes, because she can, because she’s been here before, because knows this script and the world is an all-you-can-eat buffet of sticks up the ass, and she just doesn’t care ; 15. Couple, sighing, Who would leave their daughters unattended like that? ; 16. The Solo Eater, courses ahead of us all ; 17. Man who reminds Friend to stop overreacting ; 18. Alarm Will Sound, posted in red, shining above the girls’ low heads.

 

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