Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

Art by Guy Billout

Like the Ashes

A somber day seems to be in store
for me.  I feel like the ashes left

behind after a fire. The wind kicks
me all around. I hear echoes of my

shouts in the songs of birds. I feel
like the dust speck I last vacuumed.

I am restless trying to find joy.

Life’s Feast

I blank out when life gets heavy.
Its demands obliterate me.
Its noise is unnecessary and
its cruelty is incessant.
My mind becomes life’s feast.
I end up chewed up in its belly.
Its frenetic bites leave me bloody
and bruised until I am nothingness.
I have not lived the life I wanted
to live and no one has lived the life
they wanted. All of us are life’s feast.

Night’s Gaze

I feel night’s gaze on my moonlit stroll.
I am near shore where the fishes swim.

So many stars watch my every step.

I gaze back searching for flying saucers.
I am listening to the water’s rocky waves.

So many stars watch me howl and shout.

I need better medicine and better friends.
I forgot how it feels to smile and laugh.

How do I get home from here?

How many stars will guide me home?
I am at the bottom half of hope.
How many stars will lead me astray?
I am closer to death’s front steps.

I feel night’s wind brushing my shoulder.
I am going home following spaceships.

The departed stars were not much help.

I listen to the silence on my way back home.
A leaf falls in the distance and then another.

I feel my soul guiding me with confidence.

I give to night my deep condolences.
I am going to sleep as the sun rises.

Born in Mexico, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal lives in California and works in Los Angeles. His poetry has appeared in Blue Collar Review, Kendra Steiner Editions, Mad Swirl, and Unlikely Stories. His latest poetry book, Make the Water Laugh, was published by Rogue Wolf Press in 2021. 

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal at Kendra Steiner Editions 

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal at Mad Swirl

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal interview at Hosho McCreesh

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal at The Friday Influence

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal book review/interview

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal’s Make the Water Laugh at Amazon