Here is my tribute to Selena. Like many others, I barely knew who she was before her terrible death. Indeed, I knew only the one song, "Amor Prohibido," which I'd heard on the radio before that day her life was cut short. Since then, again like many others, I've grown to love her and her music.
My Selena
She surfaced in a drag show,
a song on Radio Amor about Love Forbidden,
two words in English.
Her fate fractured the front page:
"Latin Music star Selena
Shot, Killed in Texas Hotel."
On April First a goddess was born,
perfect, complete, her work just begun:
to cleave barriers like a butcher,
to mix peoples like Tita:
Quail in Rose Petal Sauce,
Como Agua Para Chocolate.
Selena, with your eyes blazing,
your black hair swinging,
your lips full, your bosom fresh
like Botticelli's Venus, a flower indeed
riddled with too many prickles.
Mi amor latino,
como me duele, ay,
como me duele.
How it hurts
with sticky, sweet pain, my favorite song,
"Como La Flor" --your rock-hard gift
to us still alive with hope:
la vida, calor y amor.
This poem is in my new book, The Alchemy of Opposites (St. John, KS: Chiron Review Press, 2000). It was first published in Genre, 1996. To learn more about my poetry, see Clifton Snider, Poet and Poetry and Criticism.
--Copyright © Clifton Snider,
2000