Cerebral Contents:

Update for 05.05.08:

Disintegration by Don Hucks

Five Feet and Building by Joel Van Noord

Grocery Aisle by Richard Lighthouse

Cross the Road by Ashok Niyogi

04.29.08:

Lookalikes by Phil Doran

Dinner by Brandi Wells

The Modern Covenant by Daniel E. Wilcox

Death by Onions by Michael Frissore

04.21.08:

Future's Children by Kimberly Raiser

Identity Theft by George Anderson

The Datists by Adam Engel

A Great Deal of Money by Justin Hyde

04.14.08:

Mr. Papaya and Dale by Eric Suhem

California by Caroline Imreibe

Aftermath of Vehement Argument #1,068 by Cynthia Ruth Lewis

Trip-Hammer Vitality by Lisa Nickerson

04.07.08:

The Florence of Basel, or Why Readers of Nietzsche Need to Read Burckhardt by Jeff Crouch

Slideshow by Miles J. Bell

Friends of the Poet by Sean C. Bowen

Picture Perfect by Leah Baldwin

03.24.08:

The Streak by Jeremy Hendrix

Grab Your Butts by Emme Hor

Far Away by Ashok Niyogi

Staring Down a White-Tailed Doe by Aleathia Drehmer

03.17.08:

The Hairbrush by Vernard Kennedy

Dog Days of Winter by Niall Berkeley

Poem From My Grave by Michael Lee Johnson

Mashed Potatoes and Hamburgers by Matt Finney

03.10.08:

Hard Work by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal

Jetty Cake Pigs by J.D. Nelson

I'm Quiet in Bed by Moctezuma Johnson

Tequila Shakes by Richard Lighthouse

Hard Work

by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal

They tell you lies.
They feed you come-ons.
They drop a penny
into a jar
and tell you
it will turn
into a drum
full of quarters,
dollars, and
gold.

The harder you work
the more they whisper
in your ear
of the riches
that wait for
you.

They send you memos
thanking you
for your hard work.
They say it is just
a matter of time
when you will be
making more
money that
you can count.
When they pull the rug from
under you,

all the lies
will sit
in your stomach
like food
poisoning.
The jar of pennies
will break.
The drum will be
buried in the ground,
empty
and full
of worms
devouring each other.
Your hard work
no longer praised,
but expected
and with no promised rewards.

______________________________________
Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal lives in West Covina, California.

posted 03.10.08.

Emergent Properties:

Main

F.A.Q.

About

Archives (alphabetical)
Archives (chronological)

Links - Updated 05.05.08

Books - Updated 05.05.08

Pandemic Poetry

Taglines