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first day of MTV

by B. Elizabeth Beck

summer before eighth grade, a week after I return from Camp Fitch,
my friends & I gather around set in living room to witness
Pat Benatar blow our minds, wasting Saturday watching
video kill the radio star, in the era of mixtapes, triumph
of catching favorite song just after commercial, decorating
cassette cases to trade between lockers, folded love notes, check box yes or no
hairspray & flipped collars, we aspire to be valley girls
but don’t know who Frank Zappa is, only that Ohio
is boring until the screen lit up that August day

first day of MTV by B. Elizabeth Beck from Dancing on the Page forthcoming from Rabbit House Press. 2024. Used by permission of the author.

About the Author

B. Elizabeth Beck is a poet who writes fiction. Her fifth poetry collection, Dancing on the Page, by Rabbit House Press, is forthcoming in 2024, and Swan Songs, her debut short story collection will be published by Accents Publishing in 2024. Author of Summer Tour Trilogy, she has work in journals and anthologies, including Poetica Magazine, Appalachian Review, and Harvard Education Press. Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Elizabeth keeps close ties with family and friends who live in northeastern Ohio. Elizabeth is the founder of two monthly poetry series: Teen Howl and Poetry at the /ˈtāb(ə)l/ in Lexington, Kentucky.

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Write a Dodoitsu, a Japanese form of four lines: seven syllables in each of the first three lines, and five syllables in the final line on the topic of work or love. End with a humorous surprise or twist.