Four Poems

by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal

 

 

Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal had a chapbook, Without Peace, published by Kendra Steiner Editions. His previous book of poetry, Raw Materials, is out on Pygmy Forest Press.

ALIENATION

Like a big brown dog
or an old drunk
roaming the streets
without a home,
eyes look away from
the shameful ways
I comport myself.

I wouldn't mind being
a big brown dog
and I could use
a drink or two.
Eyes look away from
the shameful ways
I comport myself.

I snap off branches
from low trees and
write my name where
the dirt is soft.
Eyes look away from
the shameful ways
I comport myself.

I bark at people
like some big brown
dog, like some old
drunk in the street.
Eyes look away from
the shameful ways
I comport myself.

ONLY A GAME

The rattle and hum
of rambling voices
up small alleyways
drifted and rolled on
in the shadows and
bright spots for hours
as children played.

War was only a
game and surrender
came without harsh
interrogation or
imprisonment in
soulles cages run
by inhumane guards.

When the war games were
over: children could go
home without scars or
mental damage. The
children went home to
their parents with their
limbs and bodies intact.

THE MIDDLE ONE

I'll take the middle one
with the freckles
and buck teeth.
I'm not particular.
Hey, it's my birthday
and I'm feeling charitable.

I'll take the one on the left.
I'll look past the neck
brace and the frown.
Perhaps I could make her
feel at ease,
show her the time of her life.

I'll take the one on the right.
She has a bit of a
a hair lip.
I'll look past the hunchback.
I hear she's shy. They say
you have to watch out for them.

WITHOUT THINKING

Don't dare look back
when your legs
can still take you far,
when your eyes
can still see colors.

It is pointless
to martyr
yourself for the rich
when you're still
a young man and free

to choose to do things
that matter,
like living. Don't dare
and enlist
without thinking.

Look at the sky
and walk on.
You don't need a fool
to tell you
God is on your side.