POETRY BY JUAN MANUEL PEREZ

Juan Manuel Pérez, a Mexican-American poet of Indigenous descent and a Poet Laureate for Corpus Christi, Texas (2019-2020), is the author of several books of poetry including the Elgin Nominated Space in Pieces (The House of the Fighting Chupacabras Press, 2020), Screw the Wall! and Other Brown People Poems (FlowerSong Books, 2020), and the new book, Planet of the Zombie Zonnets from Hungry Buzzard Press.

His poetry has appeared in numerous scholarly journals and reviews, national and international anthologies, as well as magazines and websites. The award-winning poet, history teacher, and Pushcart Nominee, is also a member of the Poetry Society of Texas, the San Antonio Poets’ Association, the Horror Writers Association, the Science Fiction Poetry Association, the Horror Authors Guild, the Baseball Bards, and the Military Writers Society of America.

The former Migrant Worker worships his Creator and chases Chupacabras in the South Texas Coastal Bend Area. Learn more about him at https://juanmperez.weebly.com/.

THE MAN LOST BETWEEN FOREVER AND EVER

a lost man to time
between thin layers of breath
there is no escape

everyone in sight
yet no one still to talk to
ears and eyes stitched tight

screaming at the walls
that do not speak nor they fall
like a spirit world

touch berths no feeling
the hungry do not hunger
desires dwindle

tried to end it all
death does not dwell in this place
all attempts have failed

astray with despair
painted with loud, frozen screams
here, the lost are lodged

there is no escape
between thin layers of breath
a lost man to time

THE MACHINE THAT DIDN’T KNOW

headed back to Mars
oceans on earth have dried out
revealing secrets

early ships still lay
stuck in ancient sandy beds
awaiting a crew

once upon boarding
activating all engines
so was its mission

translator running
minutes to find our language
then it spoke its truth

we, the descendants
a kinship among the stars
time that we returned

plotting coordinates
of course, we know the planet
we’ve been there before

strong, windy deserts
it’s been dead long before man
how does it not know

AWOKEN

middle of the night
sound of metal in a tub
was I still dreaming?

so fresh of a sound
so alive with urgency
so sharp in my ears

turning on some lights
for whom was the message for
great interruption

everything normal
nothing seems out of it’s place
can’t yet find a cause

what did it all mean?
was it something from the dream?
or straight from out here?

maybe dream itself
something it wanted to say
end I need not see

but what was that dream?
I can’t even remember
here’s to your success