Autumn Begins in Charlottesville Virginia
- Emma Karnes
for Claire, Edie, and Alden
I lie on my back at the top of the parking garage,
Tasting air that is buttery with truck fume & dusk,
The girls I love talk serially of getting old,
As they clip their split-ends with kitchen scissors,
As they widen their pretty eyes like cat claws,
As they secretly consider bearing their famish,
And their tanned backs fade like monarch wings,
And they teach me about the sad sky of patience,
And keep orange poppies sun-oriented on the porch,
Which give, & give, & give their fragile color,
I’m flat under this azimuth & totally alone.
I’m living in a love that happened long ago.
1st Place, Writing
In my poem “Autumn Begins in Charlottesville, Virginia”, dedicated to three of my roommates, I hope to capture the unique love and support that I’ve felt from these friends during this really uncertain and precarious time in our lives. While fourth years every year have to deal with the stress of graduating from UVA and leaving Charlottesville, my friends and I are experiencing these feelings even more intensely, with the sense of danger and unfamiliarity created by the pandemic. This poem represents the UVA student to me because it honors the overwhelming compassion and solidarity I feel from my friends as we together navigate this difficult and fleeting time at UVA.