The Meadow Literary and Art Journal 2011

Bangor, Pennsylvania: SOS by Sean Prentiss When a girl likes a boy in Bangor, Pennsylvania She never asks him on a date. Instead, our girl waits (waits) For the boy to ask her out, stammering. Then she says, quietly, We can go to the prom because she knows the moment she whispers The slightest interest, the boy (with blond hair and a slight build) Will fly—that is what boys do in towns built on brittle rock. After the dancing, the sugary punch, and some other girl Being crowned—in the prom parking lot, the boy leans in. And our girl, She knows boys from Bangor, so she kisses with tongue and hard Though it’s a first date because all the boys talk about is that mechanics job with benefits and how, after a year, he can buy that ’87 Mustang With the V8 engine. And our girl wants nothing more than to ride shotgun. So she lets the boy’s desperate tongue click against her teeth As if he’s tapping out some Morris code: SOS. 48 theMeadow

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODQ3NA==