Winter Consumes by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

Winter consumes
the hungry
and the poor,
leaving them blind
at the river’s edge.
Police find them
and bag them.
Fathers and sons,
names to be
found later.
In dark water
too slow to swim.
Brothers, sisters,
in frozen graves.

Young men and
women shrieking.
Christ, it is cold.
They limp sideways.
The benches
and faces like ice.
Eyes raw unable
to stare or blink
in the snow.

Girls and boys,
to the light they go
when they are frozen
in their tracks.
A palm tree
bends down
just a little
at Christmas
of all days.

Beggars freeze.
Birds freeze.
Limbs freeze
and even
crutches freeze.
In winter
groins freeze.
Poor men and
women exposed
to a harsh season.

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal lives in California, works in Los Angeles, and was born in Mexico. His poetry and illustrations have appeared in Black Petals, Borderless Journal, Blue Collar Review, Kendra Steiner Editions, and Unlikely Stores. His latest poetry book, Make the Water Laugh, was published by Rogue Wolf Press.

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