anyone other than me

05 Jan 2016

anyone other than me

I could have been a taxi driver
picking up musicians from
Carnegie Hall

I could have been flipping a coin
dressed in zebra stripes
standing at the fifty-yard line on
Super Bowl Sunday

or just as easily stranded in Iowa City
waiting in line at Hamburg Inn No. 2

I could have been slam dunking
donuts into black coffee in
New York City like some beat cop
on Sunday morning

I could have been that priest
in the Exorcist novel
placing my hands on a child
and my faith in the Lord

I could have been a medic
or a mystic or a miracle worker
trapped inside any given war
these past thousands of years

or I could have been a starving child
looking for someone
like myself
to save me

january two thousand sixteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged charity, compassion, poem, poetry

19 thoughts on “anyone other than me”

Eyes + Words on January 5, 2016 at 9:13 pm said:

This is great, loved listening as well

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- j matthew waters on January 5, 2016 at 9:20 pm said:
  
  elated you think so…thank you
  
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tunisiajolyn84 on January 5, 2016 at 9:22 pm said:

First poem I read on your blog and I love it!

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- j matthew waters on January 5, 2016 at 9:25 pm said:
  
  Thank you, Tunisia – thank you for visiting and letting me know….
  
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  - tunisiajolyn84 on January 5, 2016 at 9:34 pm said:
    
    You’re welcome. 🙂
archiearchive FCD on January 5, 2016 at 9:26 pm said:

With my interest in refugees, I found this both moving and thought-provoking.

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- j matthew waters on January 5, 2016 at 9:28 pm said:
  
  I wasn’t sure where this was going when first starting out…thank you Archie for visiting again and commenting….
  
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Bonny Blogger on January 6, 2016 at 1:10 pm said:

what a wonderful poem !

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- j matthew waters on January 6, 2016 at 5:34 pm said:
  
  So glad you think so, Bonnie!
  
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Björn Rudberg (brudberg) on January 8, 2016 at 9:39 am said:

The end really brought it home for me… we are what we are… and so many things we could do if we really wanted.

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- j matthew waters on January 8, 2016 at 6:11 pm said:
  
  Glad you enjoyed this poem, Björn, and for sharing on Twitter.
  
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ghostbusterbev on January 20, 2016 at 2:17 pm said:

Your poetry just keeps getting better and better. Loved this one!

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- j matthew waters on January 20, 2016 at 7:24 pm said:
  
  Thank you very much, Beverley – so glad you enjoyed this one. 🙂
  
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denise0904 on November 26, 2016 at 5:35 am said:

All the things you could have been. What you are, is a poet with heart! Love this.

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- j matthew waters on November 26, 2016 at 7:20 am said:
  
  Thank you so much, Denise.
  
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denise0904 on March 29, 2017 at 7:08 pm said:

you became a poet, best of all. love this.

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- j matthew waters on March 29, 2017 at 7:24 pm said:
  
  thank you Denise, so glad that you do!
  
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mkrashes on October 1, 2017 at 9:09 am said:

wow. somehow I missed the impact the first time around. (speed-reading not always a good thing!)

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- j matthew waters on October 1, 2017 at 4:10 pm said:
  
  thank you very much, margaret
  
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jdubqca

poetry by j matthew waters