By: Christian Garduno

Morning Frost

I’m listening to your cassette and I’m wearing your t-shirt
guess you could say I’m in your mood
it’s a sure thing
you know I’d love to
yes, yes, yes
summer calls and the wind tastes like wine
letters are sent, envelopes arrive
and the people, they never move an inch
you’re never the same this time of year
so what do you make of me tonight?
you love me without words and I believe do you
all in all, how about we just call it even

Nothing real happens during the day
it’s just money chasing money
No one falls in love during the day
daytime’s just the dress rehearsal
Catch me at dusk or better yet sundown
that’s when passions fire up like fire-flies
& hearts hit the ground like falling stars

Sneaking out your window, burning down the dawn
I remember walking against traffic, stepping between gasoline dreams
I do remember clearly when we would dance without music
twirl each other and wonder what words ever meant

Tomorrow, you damn fool
always reading too much into me
intoxicated-stupid smile
every time I close my eyes and see you
falling from grace in perfect rhythm
’tis the season to be forgiven
for all those years of scandalous livin’
God be with you when you sleep
these prayers I whisper when it’s too dark to speak
I made a wish upon your halo
but I could never tell you
just another drop in the wishing well
time doesn’t move when you’re on my windowsill
wish I could dream upon a star & wake up where you are
we always end up back at dawn
Tomorrow, you are a damned fool

###

Collins Square

There was something in your eyes
it got through the glass and into mine
like a closed-down beach town, mid-December
only the skies and jet-fighters can remember
how our smiles were lit just like that Ferris wheel
when I’m with you, I like the way I feel
you don’t taste like the chaos I’m used to-
you don’t taste like the trouble I was getting so used to

And what about that moment when we both went back for more huh
we were walking and small-talking
you said it was gonna rain on us all night
I was so happy, did you know you just saved my life??
we sighed right through one another
& only we knew that it was real
with you, I like how I feel
you are nothing like the trouble I am used to
nothing like that chaos
and I was getting used, too

I gave you my favorite record, so you can have a new tune
how about we walk together until we reach Neptune??

###

Steal Me Some Roses

I’ve come to like myself so much better when you talk-
she’s beautiful but I don’t know why
her eyes are blue today & they never are
All of my stars blink at once
mademoiselle
and if you will
I will
crush my dust into diamonds for you
I wrote on my skin a poem you could keep
cold marble on my bare feet
You made so many changes in my plans
and the sky couldn’t hide you tonight

I was remembering, too
when I still used to send you mixtapes
we promised each other
we would never wait for one another
like stars on loan
her skin was white coal-
I see the day from the other side of night
living without you
technically, isn’t living
I had to crawl out your window, dahling

I like this song because you like this song
why is that so wrong
I am very truly yours
and one thousand summers I’ll wait

###

Local Affection

Lazing in the sun just like Augustus
dusty, where the back-roads twist into ravines
sun so bright on the drains
dandelions drifting
grass knee-high
running through the mud underneath the tunnel
grasshoppers & butterflies fumbling forward
toward their reflections in the still-water
wandering all wavy & delirious,
late in the summer season,
running rings around the sun,
you should have seen us,
racing & embracing
everything between us

###

Opus

Down to the marrow we go
high beneath the flood
big gulps and deep breaths
beneath the river flow
surrounded by my symphony
of broken instruments
I am likewise a lover swimming
within your sea
further upon where no water can reach

I come up for air every other lifetime or so
you smell like summer
Strawberry-milk kisses
our brief eternity goes out
like a bonfire in the morning

###

Christian Garduno’s work can be read in over 55 literary magazines. He is the recipient of the 2019 national Willie Morris Award for Southern Poetry. Christian Garduno is a Finalist in the 2020-2021 Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Writing Contest. He lives and writes along the South Texas coast with his wonderful wife Nahemie and young son Dylan.