I saw her at the abandoned naval base in New Orleans,
Shimmering, conflicted, evaporating away
Hopeful as a dandelion, tectonic, internals colliding,
Titania at a picnic, her fairies admiring
The calm surrounding her like the petals on a poppy;
Or else I saw her at The Goat, that goth club on Saint Bernard
Dancing and dancing what the music was saying
Because what the music was saying and what she was saying
No matter what would not get out of her head couldn’t get out of her head
Until the tears came out of her head first she could not stop thinking
How stupid she was for falling in love with him so quickly;
Or else she was standing back on the third floor of the naval base
Carrying her bag with the four cans of spray paint and the two cans of beer
Setting them softly, carefully, lovingly about three quarters of an inch
In front of the busted elevator door, third floor is the graffiti
Graveyard cemetery each wall a tomb of a living or dying part
Of the last artist that left it there the graffiti graveyard rules are simple
Don’t paint over a piece if yours isn’t going to be better you’re there to put
Their self and your art to rest she continued to set them out carefully;
There was a light breeze from the broken third floor windows
And the trash bags, busted condoms, and broken needles
Were dancing across the floor to the music her mind was using to guide
The third floor wind, the elevator mural said BEANO IS DEAD
But he had killed her heart and she was decided whether her art
Would kill his art, she picked up the first can the blue can and wrote
MOONBUNNY LIVES the sun was beginning to set and being caught
In the naval base after dark was dancing with the devil she had to be quick
But her piece still had to be better, she picked up the next can the black can
And painted around each blue letter, the yellow can was the last can
Before sunset so she painted that days sun behind and between
And now BUBBLES LIVES has buried BEANO IS DEAD.
Cid Galicia is a Mexican American poet teaching in New Orleans. He graduated with his MFA through The University of Nebraska Omaha. A poetry editor for The Good Life Review, Events Assistant for lmnl_lit New Orleans, Blogger for Hominum Review, and reader for The CLMP FIRECRACKER Awards. His Learning Anthology, The Miracle of Flip-Flops, was published through Red Hen Press. His work has appeared in The Indianapolis Review, The Watershed Review, The Peauxdunque Review, and others. He attended the 2023 Summer Writing Residencies of Sundress Publications & The Kenyon Review, and will be returning to Kenyon this summer.