The Theme Was Opulence: Notes from a Party on 3/7/20

Natalee Cruz

THE THEME WAS OPULENCE: NOTES FROM A PARTY ON 3/7/20 The theme was opulence and so I spent the morning gutting strawberries and sucking on their entrails I’d pay with my time and obstinacy The theme was opulence and so I wore a dress meant for a summer wedding in Tel Aviv paired with rhinestone fishnet stockings, as I do love a theme The theme was opulence and so I filled the strawberries with Jell-O shots and a rim of molly since I’m here for a good time and I enjoy gimmicks The door was open and party-goers smoking cigarettes spilled onto the porch I locked eyes with the person brandishing a PornHub snapback and NASCAR t-shirt The house had a tub of French 75 and cocktail shrimp in the corner of a room next to loose grapes and sober strawberries I opted to carry the shots around the party where the theme was opulence and I was gifted snippets like, “I’m pretty sure I already had Coronavirus” and “Be careful, there’s molly in the strawberries.” After some strawberries and chatting in the Shrimp Corner with my friends we agreed there was no room to dance no room to talk, even – the room was getting smaller And so we left the party where the theme was opulence and we climbed over each other in the cab which would take us to the club where the music is always good Eyes puckering like the first sip of lemonade on the first day of sunshine after a winter of hibernation there were no words left to say But in the words of Maya Angelou, I was, in fact, dancing like I had diamonds at the meeting of my thighs as my rhinestones literally caught the fragile netting, attempting to stitch a web Laughing for no particular reason laughing because it feels good to laugh and feel the strawberries bouncing around our stomach’s like bingo balls, as a matter of fact, I do feel like I’m a winner Strawberry smiles on a near-empty dancefloor so puzzling for a Saturday night at a club in Brooklyn where the theme is always opulence where there’s no need for an invitation Natalee Cruz is a poetry and fiction MFA student at The New School. Previous work has been published by The Spectacle.

 

Natalee Cruz is a poetry and fiction MFA student at The New School. Previous work has been published by The Spectacle. Her chapbook I Have Seen The Bluest Blue, is forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse in 2022.

 

 

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