Live Encounters Poetry & Writing July 2026
Empty Promises, poems by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal.
Empty Promises
Swallow
your pride. Do not chase
empty promises. Leave
that for the unsmiling
insects
hiding
in the hedge.
We all become
dust. If we are lucky,
we are given
parting flowers
as we lie in
darkness
under a giant tree.
People come to see us
and light
candles
in the half-darkness
of
churches.
Darkness Never Leaves Us Alone
Darkness never leaves us alone.
It stands outside the door.
It suctions all the light inside.
There are days it devours all
the calmness and friendliness.
We lie in bed at night. There is
darkness sleeping next to us.
Why does it come when we are
dreaming over and over again?
Our eyes are weary from darkness.
It comes to bring us anxiety.
It comes to instill hurt feelings.
Moments of peace are a blessing.
When it comes, we feel at ease.
Darkness brings coldness to our hearts.
All night it spreads its dark wings
spreading poison and disease,
a plague unlike any other.
Wandering
Wandering through sleepless
nights he walks back and forth
in and out of traffic in grimy
streets, twice almost getting
run down as the stars look away
and the moon veiled by dark
clouds. He sleeps on the streets
when he knocks out and the
wandering takes a break. In
the clinic downtown they know
his name. His life is at risk out
there in the streets under the
sun and moonlight. In these
streets that feed on his sorrow,
and the sorrows of those like him,
the wandering persists. In these
streets, where one’s life flashes
faster than flapping butterfly
wings, in darkness and light.
It gets tough. The wandering
end up behind bars. They are
locked up when a home is what
they need just for a start.
© Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal
Born in Mexico, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal lives in California and works in Los Angeles. He is the author of Raw Materials (Pygmy Forest Press), Make the Water Laugh (Rogue Wolf Press), and Peering into the Sun (Poet’s Democracy). His recent poetry has been featured in Blue Collar Review, Live Encounters, Mad Swirl, Oddball Magazine, and Unlikely Stories.