FOUR FEATHERS PRESS ONLINE EDITION: SKY KEY Send up to three poems on the subject of or at least mentioning the words sky and/or key, totaling up to 150 lines in length, in the body of an email message or attached in a Word file to donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59 PM PST on March 14th. No PDF's please. Color artwork is also desired. Please send in JPG form. No late submissions accepted. Poets and artists published in Four Feathers Press Online Edition: Sky Key will be published online and invited to read at the Saturday Afternoon Poetry Zoom meeting on Saturday, March 15th between 3 and 5 pm PST.

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal 


Ballad of the Wind


I listen

to the ballad 

of the wind.


The wind clings 

to everything,

from a toy car

to an open book.


Crops grow

and lands change.

The wind sings on.


In the sky

a speck of dirt flies.

The still statue

takes a break.


Shirts sway on clotheslines.

I sense the ballad

and I sense the wind.


A human cannot sing

like a gust of wind.

A human cannot see

the wind singing on the moon.

To an astronaut 

this is untrue.

Who says all humans are astronauts?


I listen to the ballad

of the wind. I am amazed

how far it travels.

This is true.

This could be measured.

It could be an ordinary Monday.

The sweet ballad will linger.

I heard it a hundred thousand 

times in my life.

I live a life of impermanence.

This is the human existence.

The wind and the ballad 

will go on with integrity.


On rooftops,

on the moon,

the soul of the wind

will sing on while 

a speck of dust flies.





Imprisoned 


You hide in a jail

of your own making,

searching for words 

within the shackles 

tattooed on your wrists,

emblazoned on your

mind, and tied firmly 

around your tongue.

The keys are buried 

somewhere under a

red hill, in a cold grave,

in the mouth of a

songbird perched 

atop a wire fence.

It’s the blood in your

veins, which keeps flowing 

in search of those words,

intent on breaking free

from the make-believe 

prison in your mind.





Walk Out


And I walk out

because the

sun has yet to

climb free of

the mountain 

to the sky,

clinging to its 

golden sheets,

crisp and warm, 

scented with 

volcanic glow.

I walk without 

looking up.

I go at a 

steady pace

while the sun 

takes a peak.


I look up 

and then down.

The breathtaking 

mountain has grown 

a golden crown.

The top of it 

is golden brown.

I feel the first

bite of sunlight. 

I keep walking

where the trees

and its leaf 

filled branches

shade me 

from the sun.

The walk home 

is warm, somewhat 

comforting, unlike 

an eagle’s claw

I imagine, 

digging and

not letting go.


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