—Poetry and Artwork by
Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal,
West Covina, CA
DANCE FOR RAIN
Overcast, still not a drop of rain.
The cold air freezes my bones.
The clouds gather over my head.
I don’t know why the rain does
not fall already.
I walk outside and shake a fist
at the sky. From my front yard
I start to dance.
The clouds darken and the sky
lets one drop of rain fall in my eye.
I give my dance a standing ovation.
The dark clouds are not impressed.
The rains do not come as I hope.
I throw my hands up in disgust.
I face the clouds and shout out.
I dance in the darkness, shivering.
____________________
IF NOT TOMORROW
If not tomorrow,
why not today?
Yesterday’s gone.
It’s deep in the grave.
Let’s say goodbye
to the past and
hi to the future.
Remove the stitches
from your surgery,
every single suture.
Hey, Dr. Frankenstein,
what’s with the bolts.
You are making a monster
is what I’ve been told.
I heard that aliens
are roaming the earth.
One was elected President,
but he was dumber than dirt.
The rest are pilots
of unidentified aircrafts.
Soon they will take over
and we will live in the past.
___________________
FREE RIDE
Do you really exist?
Are you just here
for the free ride?
Are you just here
for the bus view?
Do you know who you are?
Are you just out
to get money?
All that money
you give away.
I just caught your virus.
Are you loving
how bad I feel?
Send a car out for me.
I hate it here.
Send a party bus now.
Are you going
to fix what’s wrong?
Too many times
I have been nice.
Let’s go out to the
English Channel.
I can teach you
how to swim like
a flying fish.
Bring some shrubbery and
some greenery.
Are you going
to be a breath
of fresh air now?
Let’s take a Greyhound bus.
Are you just here
on vacation?
Are you just out
of your mind too?
Overcast, still not a drop of rain.
The cold air freezes my bones.
The clouds gather over my head.
I don’t know why the rain does
not fall already.
I walk outside and shake a fist
at the sky. From my front yard
I start to dance.
The clouds darken and the sky
lets one drop of rain fall in my eye.
I give my dance a standing ovation.
The dark clouds are not impressed.
The rains do not come as I hope.
I throw my hands up in disgust.
I face the clouds and shout out.
I dance in the darkness, shivering.
____________________
IF NOT TOMORROW
If not tomorrow,
why not today?
Yesterday’s gone.
It’s deep in the grave.
Let’s say goodbye
to the past and
hi to the future.
Remove the stitches
from your surgery,
every single suture.
Hey, Dr. Frankenstein,
what’s with the bolts.
You are making a monster
is what I’ve been told.
I heard that aliens
are roaming the earth.
One was elected President,
but he was dumber than dirt.
The rest are pilots
of unidentified aircrafts.
Soon they will take over
and we will live in the past.
___________________
FREE RIDE
Do you really exist?
Are you just here
for the free ride?
Are you just here
for the bus view?
Do you know who you are?
Are you just out
to get money?
All that money
you give away.
I just caught your virus.
Are you loving
how bad I feel?
Send a car out for me.
I hate it here.
Send a party bus now.
Are you going
to fix what’s wrong?
Too many times
I have been nice.
Let’s go out to the
English Channel.
I can teach you
how to swim like
a flying fish.
Bring some shrubbery and
some greenery.
Are you going
to be a breath
of fresh air now?
Let’s take a Greyhound bus.
Are you just here
on vacation?
Are you just out
of your mind too?
BUSTING MISSIONS
Busting missions
by the hour,
at the crack of dawn,
I find you
a flower;
with the sun
still hiding
below the mountains
I find a breakfast
joint open
before five am.
Busting missions,
driving through
sleepy streets,
to get some
fresh-brewed coffee
and burritos.
Waiting in line
I compose
a small poem,
devoted to
our genuine
friendship.
____________________
NEVER PROMISED
You never promised
to make me happy.
I swear to all that is
exactly how I feel
every moment I
spend with you.
I never expected
to feel this way.
If I am under a spell,
if I am just dreaming,
please nobody
snap me out of this,
nobody wake me.
You never promised
how long this feeling
would nest inside
my soul. I am on
borrowed time and
find myself lucky
for every second
I spend with you.
When this happiness
ends, I am certain
such feelings are not
expected to last
forever. You never
promised to make me
happy. I just want to
thank you that you did.
____________________
EARTHBOUND
We are bound for earth.
Rest assured, there is no
paradise down there, not
even a glimpse of starlight.
We are bound for earth.
We have been marking time.
There are no starry skies.
We will lie disheveled while
the world keeps spinning.
There will be no dancers,
not even one at our graves.
We hope to Rest In Peace.
Who will come around?
Will paradise come soon?
We will wear our finest clothes.
We will feed the worms
with every fiber of our being.
We are bound for earth.
This is all I know for sure.
For now I will be here waiting.
_____________________
Today’s LittleNip:
I WILL NOT WRITE
In block letters
I will not write my name.
My name would seem longer.
The T would be ginormous.
I will not write my name
at all on my tomb. I will leave
it anonymous. I would rather
just use an abbreviation.
Letters can be so excessive.
I will not write an apology.
—Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal
_____________________
—Medusa, thanking Luis Berriozábal for his poetry and artwork this morning! Keep doing those rain dances, Luis!
Busting missions
by the hour,
at the crack of dawn,
I find you
a flower;
with the sun
still hiding
below the mountains
I find a breakfast
joint open
before five am.
Busting missions,
driving through
sleepy streets,
to get some
fresh-brewed coffee
and burritos.
Waiting in line
I compose
a small poem,
devoted to
our genuine
friendship.
____________________
NEVER PROMISED
You never promised
to make me happy.
I swear to all that is
exactly how I feel
every moment I
spend with you.
I never expected
to feel this way.
If I am under a spell,
if I am just dreaming,
please nobody
snap me out of this,
nobody wake me.
You never promised
how long this feeling
would nest inside
my soul. I am on
borrowed time and
find myself lucky
for every second
I spend with you.
When this happiness
ends, I am certain
such feelings are not
expected to last
forever. You never
promised to make me
happy. I just want to
thank you that you did.
____________________
EARTHBOUND
We are bound for earth.
Rest assured, there is no
paradise down there, not
even a glimpse of starlight.
We are bound for earth.
We have been marking time.
There are no starry skies.
We will lie disheveled while
the world keeps spinning.
There will be no dancers,
not even one at our graves.
We hope to Rest In Peace.
Who will come around?
Will paradise come soon?
We will wear our finest clothes.
We will feed the worms
with every fiber of our being.
We are bound for earth.
This is all I know for sure.
For now I will be here waiting.
_____________________
Today’s LittleNip:
I WILL NOT WRITE
In block letters
I will not write my name.
My name would seem longer.
The T would be ginormous.
I will not write my name
at all on my tomb. I will leave
it anonymous. I would rather
just use an abbreviation.
Letters can be so excessive.
I will not write an apology.
—Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal
_____________________
—Medusa, thanking Luis Berriozábal for his poetry and artwork this morning! Keep doing those rain dances, Luis!
For upcoming poetry happenings in
Northern California and otherwheres,
click on
UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS
in the links at the top of this page.
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—
and collaborations are welcome.
Just remember:
the snakes of Medusa are always hungry—
for poetry, of course!
