Live Encounters Poetry & Writing August 2025
Evening Strolls Outside, poems by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal.
Evening Strolls Outside
Sitting at home
as evening strolls
outside. Wildflowers
plays. A girl is on
my mind as evening
stops to smell the roses.
Outside in the sky
there is a row of birds.
Sitting silent,
sleeping wide awake,
while evening strolls
in my dreams one snore
at a time. The birds sing
a song in the distance.
The skies darken.
A girl is on my mind.
Stubborn
Because I am stubborn
I fail to see the signs.
I only see what I want to
see when someone smiles.
The days grow too long.
I am bothered by time.
I do not smell the roses.
But I tear up the petals.
Each syllable I speak
is rough and hoarse.
I speak an inexhaustible
language of made-up words.
Like a Circle
Round like a circle.
I am restless inside.
That is my nightmare.
The land is round.
I stand on my hands.
I found I am trapped.
I take my last breath.
Is this poetry?
Is this madness?
I give birth to death.
I search for freedom.
I walk and walk
Until I walk out of
The circle all around.
© 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.