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Diane E. Dees
Waking the Queen of Salsa
In front of the great Museum
we sit and watch the crowd
that forms a crooked line
of banners, tears and flags.
A somber conga, pulsing heat,
dances to the funeral home;
Celia has been called home.
From our concrete perch at the museum
we can feel the force of heat
emanating from the crowd.
Above the Met, rows of colored flags
fly in a regimented line.
Azucar! We love you, the line
written on these banners made at home
in haste, carried high along with flags
of Cuba—art not shown in the museum.
Salsa sings out from the crowd;
throaty music, filled with heat.
Passing in the New York heat,
suits and skirts obscure the line.
Power lunchers meet the tourist crowd
(in four more hours they'll be home);
A mourner close to the museum
bears the largest of the flags.
Pictures of Celia on the flags
stir the fans immersed in heat.
Art seekers find a closed museum—
no tickets, no tags, no line—
and here they stand, so far from home.
A woman looks out at the crowd
and as the shoppers start to crowd
her, she asks about the bright, bold flags.
A younger woman headed home,
looking impatient in the heat,
snaps "some dead singer," a chilling line.
I shudder in front of the museum.
At home in front of the great Museum
we watch the crowd, the flags, the line:
Farewell, Azucar...sugar melts away in heat.
Read an obituary for Celia Cruz here.
©2004 by Diane E. Dees
Diane E. Dees is a psychotherapist and writer in Louisiana. Her
short
stories, essays, poetry, and political commentary have appeared in many
publications, and she publishes a blog. Diane
and
her husband, Orvin Tobiason, are the webmasters of princesscafe.com,
the
world's only virtual rock and roll restaurant. Diane has work
forthcoming in
Manorborn, Hazmat Review, The Raven Chronicles and The Louisiana
Review. Her
short story about Bette Davis recently won third place in the San
Francisco/Nob Hill American League of Pen Women's annual short story
competition.
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