Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Two Nov-Dec 2026.
Advice to a Novice Poet, poems by Alicia Viguer-Espert.
Dementia
Slice it, I said,
it will be easier to swallow
small pieces can enter the mouth
of the brain almost unnoticeable.
Smallness changes density,
the new clarity will help to see
where crickets frolic at night,
their silhouettes onyx-black.
As illumination expands
filling the heart with starlight,
your reflection will be seen
on the pond water lilies bloom.
You’ll turn so transparent
anyone could write their own script
over you, watch how black ink
blurs connecting hemispheres.
Those nocturnal cleansing tears
announce the finitude of time,
the dance coming to an end
erases the pain of forgetting.
Advice to a Novice Poet
Castile, proud in its tormented history
roasts under the August sun,
ruined castles, monasteries, -a mote
in the eye of a circling falcon
surrounds a Romanesque shrine,
Medinacelli,* the City of Selim, sleeps.
Fix that moment
on a blank notepad,
thoughts, emotions and the light
you wish to become a mirror in the reader’s
solitude.
Envision Las Lagunas de Ruidera’s* calm waters,
simple fishing boats, migrating flamingos,
gather the pieces of what you see,
what you imagine it is,
conscious that you’ll never comprehend it.
Include them on the notepad.
Distracted gods don’t care
if the picture sings or gets erased with your last breath.
Eve learned it when tearful
she left the Paradise
of her future existence, recorded by no one.
Don’t get distracted like the gods,
remember some manuscripts have lasted longer
than the civilizations which created them.
Consider black ink instead of smoke.
Savor what the masters wrote, slowly,
with open eyes walk the path in their company
until it opens onto your own wide highway.
Pay attention to cicadas’ songs
mimicking the rhythm of your heart,
listen, reflect, act.
Back in the kitchen, bake the quince with the hottest fire,
watch the parchment paper caramelize.
* Medinacelli, city in Soria, Spain. The Kelt Okelis. Today, Medinacelli,
the “City of Salim” since the VIII century.
* Lagunas de Ruidera: group of small lakes in an area where Don Quijote walked.
© Alicia Viguer-Espert
Alicia Viguer-Espert, born and raised in Valencia, Spain is a three-times Pushcart nominee and a one-time Best of The Net nominee. Winner of the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival (2017) with her chapbook “Holding a Hummingbird.” Two chapbooks, “Out of the Blue Womb of the Sea” (2020) and “Four in 1” (2022) published by Four Feather’s Press. Her poem “Thirst and Fire” just won the “Best Poem of The Year, 2025-2026,” from Four Feather’s Press. Her poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies as well as Panoply, Amethyst Review, Four Feather’s Press, Lummox, Altadena Poetry Review, Odyssey, Valiant Scribe, Live Encounters, Galway Review, Thimble and Gyroscope