Years ago, back in the days of SASEs and analog journals and zines, I became friends with Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal. For 30 years now, he’s been carving out a humble life in Southern California, working in the mental health field, and writing wry, taciturn, whimsical then sad poems. The work is impossible to pin down: often filled with natural imagery, and a whole cast of people, catches of their conversations…in one moment child-like, and the next, hell and madness. The overall effect creates not just a wildly vivid pastiche of verse but a body of work utterly and solely his own.
In a Twitterverse filled with grumbling, Berriozabal simply writes [in Spanish or English], submits, and then just does it all again — never wasting too much time ruminating on the hows and the whys of it all. It’s a massive amount of work he’s done, more so than even most with the fortitude to carry on writing for 3 decades. I’ve known him to be a forever humble and patient man a voracious reader of poetic tradition, and a writer un-devoured by ambition (that alone makes him a unique creator!). It’s been a decade since his last book — so I thought it was high time I asked him a few questions.
“How/where can people get your books, including your latest?”
My latest book, Make the Water Laugh, is available at Amazon. It was published by Rogue Wolf Press in January 2021. All my other books are out of print. I do have a few dozen copies of my first book, Raw Materials, which could be ordered from me through my email ( cuatemochi [at] aol [dot] com ).
The eight chapbooks from Kendra Steiner Editions are all out of print.
“How do you characterize your new book? Is it a themed collection, or more pulling together the last decade’s worth of material... or is it something else?”
This book is not a themed collection but there are many similarities in the work, with the birds of nature and the seasons, the weather, dreams and politics included. Most of the poems are new, from 2018 to 2020, and a few older ones from the last decade. There are over a dozen poems that are unpublished. This book came about after the poet and editor Jack Henry encouraged me to get a book out. In the past 10 years I have kept writing as usual but have not put out a book. There were years I stopped submitting work as much as I used to. I would only submit to a few places that had always been receptive of my words. Many of these poems were written after I made a recovery from colon cancer. It was a scary time for me and my family. This book is something that was always brewing in my mind. It pays homage to Latin American poets from South and North America and the poets from Spain, from the Generation of 27, that I have been reading. There are poems influenced by Poe, Whitman, and the Beats. There are poems influenced from all the poets I have been reading throughout the years, the surrealist and symbolist poets of Europe. There is also poetry that was inspired by my work in the mental health field. These poems are written in simple language. There may be complex themes but there are universal themes like life and death, love and loss, and hope for a better world. Also, I have three works of art in the book, drawings from my work calendar. I have Kevin Martin at Rogue Wolf Press to thank for helping me put this book out. He designed the front and back cover and worked patiently with me in getting this book out.
“What’s the point of poetry in the world today?”
More than ever, poetry is our most important weapon to describe our world, to point out injustice when we see it, and to bring to light the words that are in our hearts and souls. Through poetry we can reach people all over the world and through poetry they can reach us. Poetry should be shared. I know that for my world, I need poetry. It is cathartic. It expels the feelings that I have inside that may be bringing me down. Without poetry the world would be a dark place. Poetry feeds and nourishes the soul. It will live on long after we are gone and the world will be a better place knowing this.
“Who do you believe is a poet that deserves much more acclaim?”
A poet I believe deserves more acclaim is poet Robert Edwards from Washington. His poetry on social issues and for the working class are amongst my favorites. Some of his work is reminiscent of Robinson Jeffers and Thomas McGrath. Radio Venceremos and American Sounds are two of Robert Edwards’ books I enjoyed reading. Edwards edited Pemmican and his poems often appear in Blue Collar Review. The late Luis Omar Salinas is another poet that has been influential in some of my poetry. I was fortunate to meet him twice before he died. Some of his poems that were more surreal where amongst my favorite. His books I recommend is Crazy Gypsy and The Sadness of Days.
“How do you write a poem?”
Poems come to me in different ways. It usually starts with how I am feeling, whether happy or sad, hopeless or mad, and all the other moods and feelings we go through as human beings. Since I was around 18 years of age, I have written at least one poem a day. It can be a three liner or a longer poem. This keeps me in practice and in a way rooted.
Some poems are influenced by simple and ordinary things of life, by nature, birds, and trees. I often read the poetry of international poets from Europe, Asia, the Americas, and poets from all over the world. I am inspired by poets, such as Cortazar, Vallejo, Lorca, and Poe. Sometimes I borrow a word or two from their poems and write a whole other poem that corresponds to my own feelings and thoughts. I pay homage to those that came before me, but in my own style and not imitation.
I have gone through many ways of writing these words over the years, in pencil, in ink, in typewriters, computers, and now more often on my phone. I use the notes function. For someone who did not like phones much, I have learned to rely on it as a tool to write and save my words. I have dozens of notebooks as well, where I have written my words in.
Some poems just come to mind out of the blue, from dreams, from some phrase I heard, and it is as if they are writing themselves.
How do you write a poem? I am still trying to figure that out. Perhaps that’s why I am still writing. It is something I love to do and if it felt like if it is was a job, I would quit.
“As an artform — as compared to film, novels, painting, etc. — where to you think poetry belongs and what does it do differently from other artforms?”
As an art form, poetry I believe is on the same par with novels, painting, and film. Each form requires work, dedication, and the imagination to create something of beauty or meaningful. The difference between poetry and novels, is that it is less time consuming. You get your message across with a minimum of words. Personally, I have not made the time to write a novel. I do not possess the patience at this time to write a novel. Poetry comes easier to me. Painting requires a different kind of skill as does film. These are two art forms I would like to get into one day. With poetry, you can use words to paint a picture. If you are lucky enough, your words will describe in color what is on the page. It can also create landscapes similar to those that appear in film.
I want to thank Luis for finally agreeing to waste a little time ruminating on the hows and the whys of it all, and invite you all to go give his poetic vision a look.
