“The Game” after Patricia Smith, by Betsy Zaubler ’17 earned a 2017 Scholastic Gold Key for Poetry. Betsy’s other writing accolades include Gold Keys in Flash Fiction and Scriptwriting, the NCTE Achievement Award for Superior Writing, Honorable Mention in the Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts National 10-Minute Play Contest, and the Rider University High School Writing Contest. Her plays have been produced by the NJ Young Playwrights Festival, Studio Players Community Theatre, and the Theater Project. She won Newark Academy’s Poetry Out Loud recitation contest and earned a Governor’s Award in Arts Education. In addition, her work has been published in Cicada Magazine and the Writer’s Slate. Enjoy this wonderful poem.
The Game
Italicized excerpts are from the Kaplan “SAT Subject Test: Spanish” Prep Book, 2013-2014 edition.
You do have an advantage
Monopoly for the richest
players spewing out paper-cut crisp money,
glowing evergreen.
There is no bankruptcy here,
everyone wants to come out on top.
Read the questions
Or don’t. Mechanical students with
mechanical pencils already
know what’s at stake.
There may be an A but there’s no e or s or c or p or e
Relax and work efficiently – but not too quickly
There is no heart here.
Pull me apart like a decapitated Barbie
we sit headless and limbless, rows
of monsters filling schools to overflow.
I am fragile.
What’s a “Good” Score?
What did your best friend get?
Pace yourself
Do you understand?
Runners on your mark—
Begin.