Scattered Plums

—Drawing by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

—Poetry by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, West Covina, CA

—Public Domain Photos

SPELLBOUND
 
Your gaze puts color in my face,
your eyes like the color of the sea
and sky on a clear day, how I am
transfixed, completely spellbound.
 
Your smile as delicate as a flower,
still it lifts my burdens as well as
as the somber clouds, ushering
the sunlight out of the shadows.
 
How I long to awake with you at
my side. I could never complain
about anything to see you last as
I go to bed and first when I wake.

 

 

 

 

 

NO  LEAP
 
I gave her poetry.
She took no leap.
I tried in vain to reach
her. The poems
failed. Words can do that. A
poem can kill
the mood like a bird is
destroyed and slain
by a beautiful cat.

 

 

 

 

RAIN IS COMING
 
It is so hot outside
in Wintertime.
I hear the rain is coming
in twenty-four hours.
 
That is more like it.
I want to walk
in the rain without a hat
or an umbrella.
 
The rain will go with
the mood I’m in.
I want my tears to feel its
match or its better.
 
I can’t stand the heat.
I stay out of
the kitchen of life and stay
sleeping in my bed.

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT STARS DO

If I could
do with words
what stars
do with light,
I could be
immortal
and retire
forever.
I just strike
a match in
the wind and
my words are
extinguished
in a blink
of an eye.
It is fine.
I keep at
it, striking
the stone with
another
stone, until
a spark starts
a fire, with
the help of
dried-up grass.

 

 

 

 

 

PEELING ORANGES
 
Peeling oranges,
I think of you,
how you make
designs with
the skin, and
art form you
also make out
of lemon skin.
I watch you as
you make your
designs and we
smile when you
look at me as
I watch your
creation.

 

 

 

 

 

THE GREATEST HITS
 
Turn on the music.
Your caresses
are the greatest hits.
Play my heart strings
with tenderness.
Bring it on,
bring joy to my world.
When silence comes
after soaring
to the highest heights,
let’s sleep with the stars.
The music lingers
along with your caresses.

_______________________

Today’s LittleNip:

DEAD WORDS
—Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal
 
I try to breathe life into dead words,
the ones that have shaped my own
vision. These words have spoken to
me. Some of them have saved my life.
There are leaves in the grass and
scattered plums. I rake the leaves up
and pick up some of the plums.
Words like waste come to my mind.
The dying sun reminds me that
I will have a great night writing.
 
______________________

Our thanks to Luis Berriozábal from West Covina for returning to the Kitchen with his poetry today! Luis has a series of illustrations that he made on his office calendar, one of which is shown here today—and I notice one is the cover of his new book from Amazon, Make the Water Laugh. Bravo, Luis! Here’s the info on his new book: www.amazon.com/Make-Water-Laugh-Cuauhtémoc-Berriozabal/dp/B08TZ9M2N8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1611942923&refinements=p_27%3ALuis+Cuauhtemoc+Berriozabal&s=books&sr=1-1/.

Got a new book out? Send me the info and I’ll post it. A great source of pride, a poetry book is! How will we know about it unless you advertise??

Sadly, our weekly Saturday feature, Davis Poet Laureate James Lee Jobe, has asked to take a leave of absence from the Kitchen due to his on-going health problems. We’ll miss his thoughtful poetry on Saturdays, and wish him better health in 2021!

_______________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

Cover, Make the Water Laugh

by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.

Would you like to be a SnakePal?
All you have to do is send poetry and/or
photos and artwork to
kathykieth@hotmail.com. We post
work from all over the world, including
that which was previously-published.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!