Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal- 3 Poems

GENIUS SINCE BIRTH

They’re trying to analyze me.
They’re trying to control me.
They’re trying to get to everything
I have stored in my brain and
Steal every idea I have and make
A fortune and leave me with nothing.

I am a genius since birth.
I created the heavens and all
The stars in the sky. I kept
The moon suspended as well
The sun. I made the seas and
The seasons and created TV.

I wrote every hit you hear on
The radio. I created music
And invented birdsong. I made
All the animals that walk, crawl,
Swim, and fly. I made the clouds
And the rain, the sleet, and snow.

They’re trying to get to the center
Of my mind. They don’t want me
To create things that I give away
For free. They want to earn a
Profit. I just take enough to eat
And drink. I live my life frugally.



SOME THINGS

There are some things
you never talk about
and some things you
should never talk about.

But the doctor tries
to open my mind
with a key of small
and large questions.

The doctor drugs me
with medication
until I am unable
to think and I answer

his questions in
fragments. He gathers
the information that
he wants to hear.

He writes lies about me
in the medical chart
to get the law involved
and put me away

for a year. I cannot
keep any secrets.
I tell the things I should
never have to say.



IN THE FIRE

The bookshop
perished in the fire.

All the books
are gone now.

It’s too late
to save learning.

We don’t have
the books to read.

We sit and
watch the fire leap

in silence.
Out of the fire

silence speaks
and the ashes rise.