Alberto Rios

THE CITIES INSIDE US
.
We live in secret cities
And travel unmapped roads.
.
We speak words between us that we recognize
But which can't be looked up.
.
They are our words
They come from very far inside our mouths.
.
You and I, we are the secret citizens of the city
Inside us, and inside us
.
There go all the cars we have driven
And seen, there are all the people
.
We know and have known, there
Are all the places that are
.
But which used to be as well. This is where.
They went. they did not disappear.
.
We each take a piece
Through the eye and through the ear.
.
It's loud inside us, in there, and when we speak
In the outside world
.
We have to hope that some of that sound
Does not come out, that an arm
.
Not reach out
In place of a tongue.