Four Poems|Christian Garduno
8:30 Madison Standard Time
The nights never used to be this long
you clumsy angel you call falling flying
not alone
when moonlight’s in your room
You crack me in half like a pill of yours
my next conniption fit
Melt me down
Impossible is only impatience
Coup de Foudre
There’s still some of you I won’t let go
I’ve spilled so much of you + yet you’re still half-full
that’s just like you
that’s just like you
You only pull this song out when you need a good cry
I don’t mind, honestly, I don’t even blame you
the end of our world wasn’t that much of a commotion, you know
a quiet crescendo, I don’t think anyone even noticed much
I’ve given away so much since I lost you
even crossed my mind to move to your town
and show up in your market and act like-
Wow, you shop here, too??
I thought I knew the low down
then you brought me way down
I even threw dirt on my own grave
I don’t recall which one of us I was trying to save
Grace Notes
Always nights spinning when I’m with you
oh, and when you lose signal, I love having you all to myself
then I feel like the universe is working in our favor again
and deep down, I really feel like we’re not making it to the end of the song —
but it’s alright, so long as I’m with you now, I am warm inside your light
even in the darkness of the daytime, I feel that all is right
long as I can close my eyes and be right next to you
I do get that feeling from time to time,
oh, you go off-line, I’m delirious having you all for my own
I’m so damned selfish, why should I let you go even for a night?
I watch over you as you sleep and I feel the most alive
I’m in another place and time, I dream upon you far past daylight
I just cannot be without you & why should I?
It’s absolution and oblivion when I’m with you
like once again all in the universe is right
oh and I have no need for heaven or even the sun anymore
when I am glowing in the warmth of your light
Loving the Megaton
Sometimes I really hide inside your room
I hardly ever find myself in there-
we turn on the heater & we turn on the fan
there’s nowhere to run
even though we ran
Releasing the Megaton
seeking shelter in empty subway stations +
the tram grates against the tracks again
Memories take on a mind of their own
pushing up on the rain
I turn on your radio
we go straight to mute —
dancing in the fall-out
we see two dawns in one day
There’s a picture of us on somebody’s phone
when we’re smiling and I feel like home
I’m laughing and your eyes are closed
I love that photo and I don’t know why
we’re cosmic & I never have to wonder
and for today, that’s enough for me
Photo by Lorenzo Spoleti on Unsplash
BIO:
Christian Garduno edited the compilation Evolver and his own solo poetry collection Face, while a History undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley. He can be read in over 35 literary magazines, including Riza Press, where his poem, “The Return”, was a Finalist in their 2019 Poetry & Art Contest. He writes in South Texas.
