Azul
Elizabeth N. Flores
December 24, 2023
If this poem was a color it would be blue.
Smothering the Christmas tree.
The kids wanted multicolor lights.
That’s all they’ve known.
This year the tree branches and lights
are brilliant blue.
Con elegancia,
as their mother wished.
Because of the dazzling blue Christmas tree
she saw in the window of a mansion
she christened El Grande,
as she drove down Ocean Drive
on her way to Christus Spohn Hospital
to work the night shift.
Elizabeth N. Flores, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, taught for over 40 years at Del Mar College and was the college’s first Mexican American Studies Program Coordinator. Her poems have appeared in the Texas Poetry Assignment, Corpus Christi Writers (2022 and 2023 editions) anthologies edited by William Mays, Mays Publishing Literary Magazine, and Windward Review.
