Three Poems by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

 

Blood Fire Sun

 

The sun bled light into the river

blinding the smiling fish. The

sunlight felt like hot nails. The

blood light fell like fire drops

as the smiling fish turned to ash.

The sun spilt its love in bloody

fire. All that swam cooked or

boiled. Herons kept their distance

in the trees along with falcons who

knew better to rise in this heat.

 

 

Faraway Lands

 

While others dream,

I pace anxiously

desperate for a wink

or two of sleep.

 

How badly do

I want to escape

to faraway lands that

do not exist.

 

I open a

book and turn every page

hoping to nod off for

a few hours.

 

Insomnia

keeps a tight grip of

my senses and I stay

awake all day.

 

Here on a real

seaside, the ships sail

to faraway lands, as real

as my tired eyes.

I Don't Know Why

 

Too many days

I played the fool.

It was so nice

to play that part.

I wore a hat

of newspaper

four days a week.

To be truthful

I don’t know why.

 

Born in Mexico, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, lives in California and works in Los Angeles. He is the author of Raw Materials (Pygmy Forest Press), Before and After Midnight (Deadbeat Press), The Book of Absurd Dreams (New Polish Beat), Peering into the Sun (Poet’s Democracy), Songs for Oblivion (Alternating Current Press/Propaganda Press), and Everything is Permitted (Ten Pages Press, ebook). Kendra Steiner Editions has published 8 chapbooks, including Make the Light Mine, Garden of Rocks, and Overcome. His latest poetry book, Make the Water Laugh, was published in 2021 by Rogue Wolf Press. His poems in English and Spanish have appeared online and in print.