Poetry by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

​SORROW OF SORROWS

Sorrow of sorrows
you have softened 
my bones that once
stood firm as you
have rained so

hard on me. In
the elements
sorrows’ lesson
left me to die.

I refuse to

give in. I show
my teeth. My bones
take the blows and
sorrows’ wallops.

I take it in.
My demise is
near. I go null.
I have been bashed

to no end. I
am beyond grief.

Feel my wound on
the meat of my
heart. How I itch.

The wall is built
while sorrow climbs
it with such ease.




BRING IT
 
Bring a little sadness
to my plate,
morsels of sorrow,
little crumbs
of doubt,
I will digest it all.
 
Toss in disgust into
my coffee cup,
sugar cubes of
disappointment,
milk of
hard lived life.
 
I will drink it up.
 
Dream up shreds of anguish
for my soul,
slivers of
anesthesia
and oppression,
I will sleep and awake.
 
In the mutilated light
I will walk,
take steady and
hesitant steps,
until I find my pace.
I have stamina.




​SO FAST
 
I feel you
when I put
my hand
upon 
my breast.
 
The heart beats 
so fast all
the time
you are
near me.
 
What does it
all mean? I
do not 
want to
love you.
 
I do not
want to fall
in love
just to
lose it.


​
Luis, born in Mexico, lives in California, works in the mental health field in Los Angeles. His poems have appeared in Trailer Park Quarterly, Venus Versus Scorpio Ezine, and Yellow Mama Magazine. His first poetry book, Raw Materials, was published by Pygmy Forest Press. His last two chapbooks, Make the Light Mine and Digging a Grave, were published by Kendra Steiner Editions.