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Poetry by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal – Better Days and Biography December 15, 2022

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Better Days

I was less of myself 
from the days I was better.

The mirror did not lie.
I left my best days behind.

I waited for daylight,
dreaming of better days.

I knew that day would come.
More of me would return every

hour of every day.  The sun
would wash my eyes out and

return my soul that had left 
my body believing I had died.

I was less of myself
from the days I was better.

Biography

I know I was born
and I know I am still alive.
I am here to tell you about it.
When I was a child
I was raised by my grandparents.
I had a good life growing up.
Each day was better than the next.
I had yet to see the ocean
and death was not a thing I thought about.
It might as well been a wounded beast
moaning in pain and I would not have
recognized that sound. I lived a quiet life.
I lived an innocent life.
I played in the rain and never got sick.
I learned grammar in school.
I did not know I would be a writer.
As I grew older I experienced the deaths
of almost all the people that influenced me
the most. I have my mother still,
whom I love most of all. Without her my life
and those of my siblings would be in ruins.

BIO: Luis lives in California and works in the mental health field in Los Angeles. His poetry and artwork has appeared in Art:Mag, Medusa’s Kitchen, Nerve Cowboy, Rogue Wolf Press, and Venus in Scorpio Poetry E-Zine.

Poems by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozabal – The Finding and Heavy Baggage August 20, 2022

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The Finding

It is all in the finding.
It is in unearthing what
is lost. It is a matter of 
luck to find peace in
this world. Go on about
it. Go do what you will.
I am opening veins. I 
will not let the pain get
in the way. It is all about 
coming out of the hole.
It is in the way you fight.
Leave the past behind.
Bury the past if you must.
It is a lot to take in. Let
this finding commence.

Heavy Baggage 

I leave the heavy baggage at home.
It will remain there when I go back.
I leave it there in hope that someday 
there is a positive metamorphosis.

The baggage will be gone and I will 
no longer carry it around with me.

I want to feel light as a feather.
The weight has been dragging me down.
It will take a lot of luck and work.
My baggage is an anchor on my soul.
It is nothing to take lightly.
I only have so much time left.

Bio:

Luis lives in California and works in the mental health field in Los Angeles. His poetry and artwork has appeared in Art:Mag, Medusa’s Kitchen, Nerve Cowboy, Rogue Wolf Press, and Venus in Scorpio Poetry E-Zine.

Poems and Artwork by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal – Night Be Mine and How Good You Have It November 18, 2021

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Night Be Mine

Night be mine.
All its darkness.
The moon. A
Wall of stars.

Night of dreams.
The moonlight.
The punctual train.
And dark shadow.

Because night
Beats life into
My wings. I

Dream of night
And its stars
And dark shadow.

How Good You Have It

You do not know how
good you have it until
you have been Haldol’ed.

If I had gone into the
family practice and learned
math, I would have been ok.

Just send me home, where
I can continue to dance
to my own music and beat.

When is the pizza coming?
I don’t need to work. Call
a cop or call a copycat.

I cannot hear you. My ears
stopped working years ago.
Blame it on Schizophrenia.

Call a cab for me or put me
on a bus to Neptune or Mars.
I want to get out of this place.

I am sticking to my story
and you stick to yours and
I’ll catch you outside one day.

BIO: Born in Mexico, Luis lives in California and works in Los Angeles. His latest book, Make the Water Laugh, was published by Rogue Wolf Press and can be purchased through Amazon. His poetry has appeared in Blue Collar Review, Kendra Steiner Editions, Mad Swirl, Unlikely Stories, and Venus in Scorpio Poetry E-Zine.

Poems by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal – Two Minutes and Sea Song December 27, 2020

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Two Minutes 

Two minutes waiting
for the bus that is five
minutes late. It is
cold at Four Fifty AM
for someone used
to warmth. The bus is
late again like the other
day when it was windy cold.
I should have worn
thicker socks but I did
not want to be late
looking for them. I feel
like Forest Gump just
waiting for a bus but
without a box of chocolates
and no one around to
tell my tall tales to.

Sea Song 

The moon is foam.
Six stars fall now.
The end is near.
Six stars fall like leaky ships.
The sea eats its songs.
Fish multiply despite it all.
Exhausted, the sea eats lyrics.
The sea is right to consume all.
It sinks boats and
sings along with
its waves and skylike colors.
The sea is all show.

Read a review of Luis’ chapbook Before and Well After Midnight, at Clockwise Cat.

Poem and Artwork by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal – All My Days October 13, 2020

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Drawing by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal

All My Days

In the dark streets I feel the wind
following me. In a rush, the wind
feels cold. It is never calm when
it is what you hope for. Flying debris
and howling dogs can be seen and
heard. My eyes tear up and I am
waiting for morning and the sun
to warm my bones. Happiness is
not something I expect in this land.
The stars in the sky watch over me.
In the morning it is the sun and
the clouds that take their turn. I am
always looking up to acknowledge
them. The bright sun is my favorite
when it’s not too hot. All my days
are spent looking for warmth. I do
not give up, but it’s not up to me.

Read a review of Luis’ chapbook Before and Well After Midnight, at Clockwise Cat.

Poems by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal- Lightning Flash and No Need (The King of the Streets) April 29, 2020

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luis_drawing

Drawing by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal

LIGHTNING FLASH

I see you in people I knew,
like a flash of lightning,
come and gone. I know you
are your own person, but
as frame of reference it is
not uncommon to make
comparisons. You have a
look in your face when I talk
and I can sense disappointment.
I know it will soon be over.
I have gone through this before.
There are no hard feelings.
I am accustomed to lightning
and how it shines and disappears.

NO NEED (THE KING OF THE STREETS)

As long as I have
a heartbeat
I will not ever
feel poor. At
night I make a home
in a park.
Food is all around.
I take from
the kind hearted.
Sometimes it’s
just around, on
trees, in trash
bins, almost fresh.
For movies
I watch the stars,
the people,
or the tall trees.
For music
I hear the birds,
crickets, and
cars zooming past.
For books I
have no need. I
read the clouds,
lips, newspapers
left behind.
I still dream. When
I become so
absorbed in
my dreams, I find
just enough
to get me through
the day. I
do not feel poor.
I am the
king of the streets.
There is no
need for a crown
or golden
robe. I keep still
when I feel
tired. If it rains,
I find a
bridge for shelter.
Do not feel
sad about me

Read a review of Luis’ chapbook Before and Well After Midnight, at Clockwise Cat.

Poems by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal- All the Colors and Stop the Earthquake July 23, 2019

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ALL THE COLORS

All the colors that I see
are slightly reddened.
I want to do them a favor.

I want to give them some purple,
some pink, maybe a little
blue or golden sunset touch.

A bright yellow and some
peach, something to taste.
I imagine green fields for miles.

I want to see the flames go
out in a blue moon song.

STOP THE EARTHQUAKE

Try to stop
the earthquake,
try to stop
the rain. It
won’t happen
no matter
how hard you
try. Try to
stop traffic,
that is an
easier
thing to do.
You may get
run over.
It will stop
for the crews
to pick up
your remains.
Try to stop
an earthquake,
not even
Superman
could. Maybe,
I don’t know.
Most likely
he could blow
clouds away
and stop rain
from falling.

Read a review of Luis’ chapbook, chapbook, Before and Well After Midnight, at Clockwise Cat.

Poems by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal – Suddenly Last Summer and The Soul February 27, 2019

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Suddenly Last Summer

Suddenly Last Summer
The Motels sang
and I was taken back to 1983.
My whole life was in front of me.

Suddenly Last Summer
The Motels sang
and I was back at the beach at 16.
There was no better place to be.

I thought it would last forever.
That was just wishful thinking.
It is 35 years later and I cannot
stop this sinking feeling.

I saw that The Motels are
out on tour to save Los Angeles.
Suddenly Last Summer
I need to get back more or less

to that place where I thought I
I could be whatever I wanted to be.Is it too late?
Please do not
tell me that it’s too late for me.

All I need to do is buy a ticket
to see The Motels in Los Angeles.
Suddenly Last Summer
will make me feel ageless.

The Soul

The soul is a place of wilderness
and oblivion, where a shallow
grave awaits, where the spirit
retreats. The soul is a deep,
dark cave, where birds of paradise
and flying birds wilt and die.

The soul is much more than one
could imagine. It is not always a
dark place. The light of day can
come from there. It is the first step
one takes from the chill to the warm
and hopeful place where one can
come to. The soul can be a place
of hope. It all depends on the soul.

Bio: Luis lives in Southern California, works in the mental health field in Los Angeles, CA, and has poems upcoming in The Ogilvie, Spillwords, and Unlikely Stories.

Poems by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal – The Battle With Night and Into the Void October 13, 2018

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The Battle With Night

 I surrendered to the night.
The youthful days are gone.
I need me time. No more
getting too carried away.

I have become docile.
I shorten the evening
when I could and just sleep.
No more burning candles

 in the day and the night.
My sails are down and I
enjoy the sea from afar.

Pensive, without circles
under my eyes, I feel
the battle with night is gone.

 Into the Void

Hurled into the void,

into a vast abyss of

 

twilights without stars,

and moons, I go there

and make a life out

of the darkness.

 

Mumbling, stumbling,

I go on like a

withered corpse

breathing life.

 

In this blind illusion

I go down the path,

following the odor

of chance, brushing

 

off my burden. I keep

it together, whistling

and humming blue songs.

Life is a strange mirage.

 

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal is a California poet. Some of his most recent poems will appear in Spillwords, Tuck Magazine, and Yellow Mama Magazine.