The Persistence of Memory, by Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

The Persistence of Memory, Salvador Dalí (Spain). 1931.

The Persistence of Memory

Those clocks
could not tell time at all.
Dalí knew it.

They melted
and hung like laundry.
Dalí counted on it.

He used
his dream memory
and persisted in

bending
the clocks that needed
to cool off.

Tick tock,
tick tock, Dalí mumbled
as he worked.

Ants found
the clocks amusing and
soft to walk on.

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, born in Mexico, lives in California and works in the mental health field in Los Angeles. His first book of poems, Raw Materials, was published by Pygmy Forest Press. His poetry has been published by Alternating Current Press, Deadbeat Press, New Polish Beat, Poet's Democracy, and Ten Pages Press. His latest chapbook, Make the Light Mine, was published by Kendra Steiner Editions.