LUISA CÁMERE QUIROZ

 

 

Be An Eternal Star In My Lantern

 

How can I tear your eyes away from mine,

when they are magnetized by the sea and the river?

I drink in your showers of dew,

tempting myself with soft, sweet reveries.

Just as ships yearn for their harbor,

my glass panes shiver with cold;

yet, as I sip your honeyed sweetness, I awaken—

I seek your lighthouses amidst my fleet,

recreating the crucibles of my mantle,

until I find yours with unerring aim—

your ebb and flow, rushing like river and song—

fascinated by your kindred charm.

 

The taciturn, silvered night

is the hidden crystal of my essence.

I see you—tense and wild amidst the waves;

my brimming presence transforms into the sea,

which, like an eternal, impassioned bride,

swims in swirling currents, a rose upon the wind.

I yearn for your laughter and your lamp, my love.

I have need of your emerald gaze

to put an end to my torment,

and to catch a glorious glimpse of the seashells.

Be my ocean, be my firmament—

be the eternal star in my lantern.

 

When Love Knocks At Your Door

 

When love knocks at your door,

you go mad, you lose all reason; your soul sings,

your heart ignites with passion, and your whole being runs wild.

And though the world may spin and spin,

only the one you love exists in your mind,

having become the center of your sidereal universe.

You dream of the beloved who cast a spell upon you,

driving your senses mad with a single glance.

As you gaze upon them, your soul takes flight.

Their musical voice sweetens your ears

and awakens your slumbering soul.

Love blinds you; it is a burning fire.

And you live only to love them with fervor and wild abandon.

When you catch sight of their tall, gallant figure,

you run eagerly to meet them—

your feet flying like birds soaring through the sky—

to quench the thirst for love that consumes you.

Your soul grows restless.

It cares nothing for the stones along the path;

in that moment, it thinks only of running.

 

A New Version Of Myself

 

Today I reclaim a new version of myself.

Not the woman of mere outer skin,

but the one deep within—the woman of my depths,

the one of my diamond-hard core

that I guard amidst the fissures of love and heartbreak.

 

That woman is young, vibrant; she is intact.

She bears no fractures, no dents.

Life will no longer buffet that woman

with its hackneyed thorns.

That woman is the one who is reborn—unbroken—each day,

filled with fresh certainties and hopes.

That woman writes of stories of the soul

with a steady pen, traversing rugged paths

amidst the stones and furrows of time.

 

Today I am a renewed, empowered woman,

who faces life with a resonant voice—

for I have the grit to wage hard battles,

to conquer obstacles, and—speaking aloud—

to use my verses to lift stones,

to join my voice to the whistling wind among the hills,

and to walk triumphant through streets and skyscrapers.

Because I have lost my fear of speaking out.

Because my way of being a woman is different.

Nothing more.

 

LUISA CÁMERE QUIROZ

 

LUISA CÁMERE QUIROZ: (Lima, 1951) Writer, poet, literary critic, renowned cultural promoter, and advocate for women's rights and the environment. She holds a degree in Education from the National University of San Marcos and obtained a certificate as Director of Early Childhood Education Programs in the state of California under the name Luisa Miletich, directing early childhood education programs for 30 years in Peru and in six educational centers in Orange and Ventura Counties in California (United States). She has continued her studies in education, literature, and human rights and actively promotes holistic cultural exchange on a global scale, connecting diverse communities through the universal language of art and fostering cross-border dialogue. Her works in poetry and prose have been published in various national and international anthologies, including:- In Search of True Beauty and the International Poetry Recital; Voices; Words Without Borders; Borders Without Words; Poetics Crossing Oceans (Italy); Language Beyond Borders (Athens); Sun of All My Bloods, Rebirth and Rowing: books published by CIAM La Molina (co-author, 2020). She is the author of the memoirs Woman of Oak (2009), Mutilated in a Thousand Ways (2021), and Loaded with Love (2023), co-written with Margarita Salirrosas de Verdeguer. Ebook Mutilated in a Thousand Ways, CIESART Spain 2nd Edition 2025. Ebook International Anthology CIESART Spain, National Love our Children Day 2025. She is a member of PEN International Peru, chaired by Marita Troiano; President of CIESART USA, chaired by Lily Baylon, global leader; Ambassador for Peace (Switzerland/France); Universal Ambassador for Peace, UPF, Peru; Global President of the Circle of International Cultural Ambassadors / Universal Poetic Utopia chaired by Manuel Ekiwa Estrella; Coordinator of the Writers Capital Foundation and Pan-American Director of Cultural Relations for the Panorama Festival of the Arts 2025, chaired by Preeth Padmanabhan Nambiar.