“L’expérience de Miss France m’a servi, mais dire que j’ai réussi grâce á mon élection de Miss France c’est non.” – Veronique de la Cruz
Mon Guadalupe, I left you with my patriotic sash around my waist, tight and thick as satin fabric, that turns with every hip to thigh extension. I walk the runway, out in open air. The people wave flags: green, orange and reds. And like it’s carnival time, steel drums bang their beats, guitars straighten their strings, I’m dancing under this heat, like a mosquito trying to sting human skin. I taste the blood of success. France, I’m you today, able to suck the blood out of living creatures. I am a conqueror, parading on stage, smiling with grace and thankfulness, colonizing one country after another like Napoleon, but taller with bronze skin. I have the world’s golden crown
[1] Veronique De La Cruz was the first black woman to win the Miss France title and go on to the Miss Universe contest in 1993.
Ms. Ortiz holds a Master’s in Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing from The Solstice Creative Writing Program at Pine Manor College and is a writer and poet. She co-edited All About Skin: Short Fiction by Women of Color (the University of Wisconsin Press, 2014) with writer and editor, Rochelle Spencer. Her short story, “Maribel y El Viejo,” was published in the anthology, Daring to Write: Contemporary Writings by Dominican Women (University of Georgia Press, 2016) She has numerous poems published in poetry and literary journals and magazines.
