“Saguaro”
Scrawl of graffiti,
illegible jade,
skin wax-rich,
pleat-rich,
monsoon accordion,
long-legged
hitchhiker thumbing
by the intersate,
summer relic,
wind-broken, wind-
borne, Sonoran
pictograph ablaze
in cloud shadow,
glass lightning, glass
tuning fork,
green forged
into a sword, saber
or claymore,
rainwater pitcher,
ribs porous &
coral, rock-bound
welt, barbed rebozo.
*
“Questions for My Body”
Why are you nocturnal
How many cathedrals have you entered
Has cruelty ever saved you
Do you remember the length of his thumbs
Isn’t that enough cake
Have you ever soaked your feet in gasoline
Do you still fear the virus
How can you sleep in this heat
Is that a soul patch
Did you laugh or cry at Keat’s grave
Have you been claimed
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“Saguaro” and “Questions for My Body” from Guillotine. Copyright © 2020 by Eduardo C. Corral. Reproduced with the permission of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Eduardo C. Corral
Eduardo C. Corral is the author of Slow Lightning, winner of the Yale Younger Poets Prize. He was a founding fellow of the CantoMundo Writers Conference, and recipient of a Whiting Award. He teaches at North Carolina State University.
