The Cities Inside Us
By: Alberto Ríos
Ruby Martinez
2B
We live in
secret cities
And we travel
unmapped roads.
We speak words
between us that we
recognize
But which cannot
be looked up.
They are
our words.
They come from
very inside our
mouths.
You and I, we are
the citizens of the
city
Inside us, and inside us
There go all the cars we
have driven
And seen, there all
the people
We know and have
known, there
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 here
And when
speak in the
outside
world…
We have to hope
that some of that
sound
Does not come out,
that an arm…
Does not reach out
In place of the tongue.
Theme
“The Cities Inside Us” refers to a city full
of life and memories. This city is were
we save everything we have
experienced. When Alberto Rios talks
about “unmapped roads,” he meant that
there was a time in his life were he did
not know where to go or where to turn
to. We all have secret cities inside us,
and we all have memories that can only
be alive in our minds and hearts.