Exploding Cigar of Love

Sandra Cisneros

SANDRA CISNEROS is a poet, short story writer, novel­ist, essayist, and visual artist whose work explores the lives of Mexicans and Mexican-­Americans. Her numerous awards include a MacArthur Fellowship, the National Medal of Arts, a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, and the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. Her novel The House on Mango Street has sold over six million copies, has been translated into over twenty-five languages, and is required reading in schools and universities across the nation.

(to the tune of el Hokey Pokey)

You toss your corazón in.

I toss my corazón in.

We toss our corazones together,

And we shake them all about.

We light the love cigar,

And we get a little high.

And that’s what it’s all about.

I write a poem for you.

You write a love poem—for me?

We send a hundred and three emails,

And we shake them all about.

We light the love cigar,

And we get a little high.

And that’s what it’s all about.

You advance un paso.

I retreat pa’trás.

I tacuachito toward you,

And you take a two-step back.

The more I pull, the more you tug.

The more you push, the more I scram.

What are we?

Pepé Le Pew and the cat?

You toss in sub self-esteem.

I toss in emotional hemophilia.

Insecurities, addictions,

And we mix them all about.

We light the love cigar,

And we get a little high.

And that’s what it’s all about.

You text: You’re too much for me, baby.

I text: Well, maybe you’re not enough!

You text: I need to be free.

And I’m shakin’ all about.

We’ve been tripping on the love cigar.

Now sobriety sets in. Bang!

And that’s what it’s all about.