two poems
by Christian Garduno
The Sinking Millennium Tower
A young merlot
and your belly-button is circling the Tropic of Capricorn
you know they don’t make pennies anymore?
so I guess a nickel for your thoughts
you smile so wide like stars obliterated in the sky
I pressed flowers for you
maybe they’ll get half of what you say
seventy-five years from now
I used to memorize your schedule
and drop by and see if you needed a ride home
I got pretty bad there for a while, I know
you’re like a city within a city
like the way you think
maybe they’ll get half of what you say
seventy-five years from now
but I highly, highly doubt it
sometimes, I wish you woulda went a little further
oh, and when you said- Isn’t everything history?
I thought you were really starting to get it
well, let’s blame it on The Worm Moon
I used to leave tiny hearts where I knew you would see them
yeah, I got pretty bad there for a while
they might get what you’re doing in a few lifetimes
but, honestly, I wouldn’t put any money on it
all I know and all I know
is that I’m obliterated by the stars in your eyes
The Hyde Street Cable Car
You keep holding back the morning
giving me infrared dreams
then you hit me with the perfect playlist
and I’m going crazy like patsy cline
your olive eyes
I felt like I could do anything
like I was finally free again
you were like a cloud left out in the rain
and the radio played all over your walls
you were still sixty per-cent unobscured
I feel like fainting I feel like painting
it’s a thing you just can’t explain
you used to call me by other names
remember when I couldn’t read your writing
and then I got it
I looked at you and said-
you’re really good
no, like really good
and then you hit me with that old line-
you don’t love me
you love the idea of me
I felt like fainting I felt like painting
and the radio played all over your walls
I went crazy like patsy cline
we’ve held back the morning
hoping against hope
that this night will go on forever
Photo of Christian Garduno
BIO: Christian Garduno’s work can be read in over 100 literary magazines. He’s the recipient of the 2019 national Willie Morris Award for Southern Poetry and a Finalist in the 2020-2021 Tennessee Williams Writing Contest. He lives along the South Texas coast with his wonderful wife Nahemie and young son Dylan.