Tempera at the Maria Novella Church

By Natalia Treviño
mi ’buelita Socorro
woulda loved this

basilica, un homenaje
for la Virgencita, the story

of her life, her elegant birth
among ladies and her tired amá:

a sacred comic strip,
consecrated graffiti,

renaissance graphic gospel
novel for the masses

to understand something
new about who is their God,

who is their Mary, all this done
by kids, including Michelangelo

when Ghirlandaio
showed them to draft

the human body
as illumination

so bright the color and the light
that my gut says

I’m not holy enough
to witness this ostentatious

prayer made of egg
and a crush

                                 of gem.
 

Notes:

This poem is part of the portfolio “The Chorus These Poets Create: Twenty Years of Letras Latinas.” You can read the rest of the portfolio in the December 2024 issue.

Source: Poetry (December 2024)