Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal

Grandma’s Recipes

Looking down with eyes closed,
he answered all the questions.
No, I do not want
to die, but I used
to think about it.
Have I been in
psych wards before?
This is not my
first rodeo.
I have been in
these joints since
grade school.
Hallucinations?
Not as much
anymore. Not
since I smoked
bad weed and
other stuff I no
longer have use
for. I just smoke
cigarettes now.
The food in this
place? Don’t even
get me started.
My grandmother
would be rolling
over in her grave
if she knew I was
eating this crap.
I miss grandma’s
greens, her black-eyed
peas, and cornbread.
If they let me in
that kitchen, I
would show them
how it’s done.
I know grandma’s
recipes. She whispers
them to me every
time I go to sleep.

 

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal lives in Southern California, works in Los Angeles, and has been writing poetry since the 1980s. His latest book, Make the Water Laugh, will be published in 2021 by Rogue Wolf Press. Some of his poems, books, chapbooks, and illustrations have appeared in Blue Collar Review, Deadbeat Press. Kendra Steiner Editions, Nerve Cowboy, Pygmy Forest Press, Unlikely Stories, and Venus in Scorpio Poetry E-Zine.