m.r. "chibbi" orduña

APRIL 21, 2016

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here tonight to get through this thing called life”

- Prince

We flooded our streets.

You sexy motherfucker

when you drove up in your

little red corvette

I said I was

soft and wet.

You looked at me thinking

“Hot thing, I could cause some

controversy in that pink cashmere.”

All you did was

call my name and I was

the greatest romance ever sold.

You told me “Money don’t matter

2 night. My name is Prince.

Whats yours?”

And we went soaring across

mountains, then fell into

the arms of Orion, delirious.

Don’t you know

I would die 4 you?

You were always a party man!

And the morning papers would read

America: you didn’t know what you had.

This

cream

represents

a new power generation,

and I wanna be your lover!

Take me back to 1999

when the pop life

made rhinestones and polyester

feel like

diamonds and pearls.

When every kiss

felt like we were

thieves in the temple.

When you said,

“let’s go crazy

the bat dance

is happening.”

Took it as a sign o’ the times.

This country doesn’t live on

Alphabet Street anymore.

You taught me that my dance partner

was always the most beautiful

girl in the world and every mirror

tells me, “U got the look.”

You taught me that life starts

when you learn to dance

in the purple rain, so today

I wear my black arm band and

raspberry berets. Today

we flooded our streets.

That is what happens

when doves cry.

M.R. “Chibbi” Orduña is a Mexican-born, Texas-raised queer poet, publisher, and editor. He has self-published 2 books, was the co-editor of Contra: Texas Poets Speak Out (Flowersong Press, 2020), and has work in/forthcoming The Texas Review, The Acentos Review, Defunkt, Voices de la Luna, Honey Lit, The Latino Book Review Magazine, Buzzfeed, We Are Mitu, George Takei, Button Poetry, and Write About Now and elsewhere. You can follow him on IG @gemineyes and Twitter @gemineyespoetry