It’s travelling to my heart
and the diagnosis, it doesn’t look good
It’s melting into my veins
and the prognosis, it doesn’t look good

I crawled my way to Saint Jerome
he gave me a carafe of red and sent me stumbling home
And the next time I see Saint Jerome
I’m going to crack his heart of stone

It’s gone to my brain
and for the first time, I’m really afraid
It’s spreading to the other half of my mind
I’m receding further & further into my cave

Keep me in your tiny box of thoughts
this. is. not. fixable.
Think of me from time to time please
all the fixes in the world can’t fix me

I’m off to see Saint Jerome
I’m going home

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.