NYU Black Renaissance Noire NYU Black Renaissance Noire Vol 17.2: Fall 2017 | Page 16

CARLA m Sandra Cisneros and Ishmael Reed. Spain, 2004. Instructions for My Funeral Sky Without A Hat For good measure, smoke me with copal. Shroud me in my raggedy rebozo. No jewelry. Give to friends. No coffin. Instead petate. Ignite to “Disco Inferno.” I’m going to sell the San Miguel sky, this jacaranda blue that suits perfectly clay roofs. Allow no Christian rituals for this bitch, but, if you like, you may invite a homeless dog to sing, or a witch woman to spit orange water and chant an Otomí prayer. Send no ashes north of the Rio Bravo on penalty of curse. I belong here, under Mexican maguey, beneath a carved mesquite bench that says Ni Modo. Smoke a Havana. Music, a la Fellini. Above all, laugh. And don’t forget, Of course, it’s available. Absolutely and for sure. Here everything is for sale, rent, lease. Mountain, prickly pear, stone, hacienda, woman, mud. I’ll sell sky by the slice. Charge foreigners double for doubling the cost of living. Attention! Sky without shade for sale, this celestial blue in bad need of a hat. And, if all goes as planned, and I’m inspired, Clouds For Rent. spell my name with mezcal. © 2017 by Sandra Cisneros. By permission of Susan Bergholz Literary Services, New York City and Lamy, NM. All rights reserved. No part of these poems may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission.