By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 23 November 1998

Flores Para Los Muertos

"Whoever you are- I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

My professor reads the line in a mock Southern accent
       mocking Tennessee Williams
       mocking Blanche DuBois
       mocking Vivien Leigh
  and everyone laughs
    except for me
 he shows us a clip
    of the movie
  ...the very end, when they are taking Blanche away
  and I almost cry
  as I identify
   even though
  she wasn't real
    and I am
 I feel a connection

what is left
when you are broken
and all you want to do
is dance in the dark
and blur the edges
with Southern Comfort
because he's dead
and you're dying
and the world
you're trapped in
is a world of yellow light bulbs
and poker parties
and comparisons
to Mother

what to do
when the labels
small as they are
   stick
and brand you
tell me,
what's a girl
to do?

I wish I was Stella
I wish I was my sister
I wish it was that simple
being dragged
to his cave
by my hair
and liking it