For the 90 Year Old Sleeping in Her Pontiac - Gavin Garza

For the 90 Year Old Sleeping in Her Pontiac

On Van Ness & Olive

I assumed we’d find hospital walls and a priest at our bedside.

Not the famous Van Ness or Mike Briggs babbling 

on about shoe shine and inflation with the cleanup crew, 

who by now are thinking to themselves, What is the United States?

Americans aren’t dying for their country; they just die.

I understand my position when I walk to the student pantry

like I do every day, just as you know Cool Whip and ramen

don’t make final meals, that your recipe binder, stained

with happy accidents, shouldn’t be the last with family.

Editor’s Note: “What is the United States?” directly references the poem “My Life At Home During Banking Hours” by David Berman

Originally published by Fresno City College’s RamsTelling, 2024

Gavin Garza was raised in the Institute of Basic Life Principles, a Christian cult. Today, he is a Chicano poet and memoirist studying English at UC Berkeley. His work has been nominated for Best of the Net and can be found in The Acentos Review, MudRoom, Eucalyptus Lit, JAKE, plus more. Garza lives in Berkeley but stays rooted to the San Joaquin Valley. Find him on Instagram and Bluesky @gavinopoet