Spitfire
Megan Denese Mealor
The reigning reina of Mexican vaudeville,
Lupe Velez soon tired of the canvas circus settings,
turned titled eyes to Hollywood’s two-reeled luxuries.
She met an illustrated comedian who quickly sold
her hot pepper cha-cha to the land of golden straw.
She played a Greek peasant girl, a sultry chanteuse,
an unsettled upper class senorita who had fallen from her fall.
Forced into Spanish talkies by her mulish accent,
Lupe spiraled into mercurial madness and foils for white herrings;
her lanceleaf spirit overturned their bobbed subtlety,
leading her snowdrop heart into the land of wild licorice,
where Tarzan himself crushed her scratch-cat sparkle.
Megan Denese Mealor resides in Jacksonville, Florida with her husband and son. A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her writing has appeared in hundreds of journals worldwide. She has authored five poetry collections: Bipolar Lexicon (Unsolicited Press, 2018); Blatherskite (Clare Songbirds, 2019); A Mourning Dove’s Wishbone (Cyberwit.net, 2022); A Cat May Look Like a King (Dancing Girl Press, 2026); and Coals to Newcastle (Cyberwit.net, 2026).