Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal: Three Poems

WITHOUT LANGUAGE

Without words,

books, and dictionaries,

the silent type might rule.

Without language,

there’d be no use for pens

and ink.  Our tangled

nets would fill with fish

and their smell could not

be described.  They would

not be fish.  On cold nights

we would shiver and cough.

The rotting corpses would

not have names.  Home

would be a place and there

would be no word for it.  Sound

would fill our ears and

the sky would just be a thing

like the sunset would be something

without a name.   Home would

be where we dream and like

everything it could not be

described.  The wind would be

soothing like your soft kiss.

There would be no word for love

without language.

THE CRYING WOMAN

I heard the crying woman in the yard last night.  She does not come around as often as before.  I have never seen her.  I only hear her cries.  She is an apparition, a ghost.  She only appears to some of the neighbors, who describe her as lean, with fair skin, and long hair.  I hear she grew up around these parts.  She died after she lost her husband in the first World War.   She drowned in her bathtub leaving behind a small note.  I am going to meet my soldier.  She did not sign it.  I cannot sleep a wink when I hear her cries.  She makes me feel like crying too.  It is so infectious.  It sounds like she’s pouring out her soul to love long gone.  I could not comfort her because I have troubles of my own.

HOMEMADE GRAVE

The invisible woman wept transparent tears.

She sealed her heart away.

She walled her heart and remained at home

inside her homemade grave.

In the airless room the disappeared woman

welcomed no strangers.

She preferred to be alone because she could

not be with her one true love.

The invisible woman believed heaven was

in her room and thought

she was blessed and completely dead

inside her homemade grave.

Luis was born in Mexico.  He lives in Los Angeles County and works in the mental health field.  His last chapbook, Digging A Grave, was published by

Kendra Steiner Editions.   Alternating Current will publish his chapbook, Peering Into The Sun, and Poet's Democracy will publish his chapbook,

Songs For Oblivion.