jdubqca

poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the category “Nature”

11 Jun 2015
2 Comments

a few years earlier


a little rain won’t hurt nobody
is what I remember Noah saying
not the dude in the book
but the bartender down the street

those potholes in the city streets
Carlos said grown men were putting
goldfish inside them after the big rain
betting on who would make it last

blocked off neighborhoods
pop up overnight
those trapped inside instructed
by the powers that be
to lay low
chillax is what one of them said
until flat-bottomed boats
can bring supplies

by the time the seventh day arrived
it was every man for himself

as far as the women and children
were concerned
well they were nowhere to be seen



june two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dogma, Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , ,
06 Jun 2015
7 Comments

the old man and the tree


that tree is still there
the one in the background
one hundred years old or more
the one you climbed to the top
again and again and again
presenting a world in its most
simplistic state
colorful and melodious and calming
shielded from life’s uncertainties
if only for a brief moment in time
when the days were long
and the nights unfolded
limitless possibilities



june two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , ,
30 May 2015
12 Comments

changing of the seasons


little bird with no song to sing
asks the wind permission
to borrow a tune
she remembered hearing the
morning of her birth

it was a little ditty a child
could pick up
rife with high notes
and often mistaken as a flute
or a fife or a piccolo

the wind carried her voice
far beyond the hills
touching the loneliest of creatures
in search of comfort and warmth
before the inevitable frost



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Birds, Nature, Poetry and tagged , , ,
24 May 2015
6 Comments

under the sun


and when it rains we pray for brighter thoughts
and think of things that bind us to the earth
reminding us how we were born
from out of the darkness
like a flower or the butterfly

and when it rains we have time to contemplate
how the sun never hides
but rather is separated from us
from things out of our control
and it is then we learn to read each other’s minds
like the worker bee does her queen

and when the rain has passed our way
we shift our thoughts to wonderment and joy
like children skipping across wet grass
slipping and sliding and laughing under the sun



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , , ,
11 May 2015

black hole sun


the enemy is always within
even in a house built on dreams
seemingly immune to bad news
never teetering on the edge

the enemy awakens out of thin air
like a ghost in the dark
nowhere to hide and nobody to haunt

the enemy is merely a reflection
of something long ago promising
where over the course of time
fades by way of a dying sun



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
07 May 2015

call of the wildflowers


where wildflowers bloom warm winds blow
turning rolling fields into motion pictures
on the brightest and fairest of days

round stones sink into dampened soil
concealed by grasses and barely breathing
undiscoverable come summer or fall

footprints aplenty but none of them human
the unreachable never dies
whether here or furthest place imaginable



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Micropoetry, Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment
04 May 2015
9 Comments

eternal is the spring


the pump in the field rusted red
miraculously sprung back to life
year after year

children jumping over stalks
and stars
barely out of breath
and smiling
seemingly suspended in motion
dashing through the water



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Micropoetry, Nature, Poetry and tagged , , ,
21 Mar 2015
3 Comments

the fall and rise of the anteaters


I thought for sure the anteaters would
beat the cardinals as the game unfolded
but the more intelligent species prevailed
leaving the extant mammal departing
tail between legs and muttering
beneath exhaustive breaths
promising to return same time next year



march two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Micropoetry, Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , ,
20 Mar 2015
9 Comments

broken glass worries not the gods


the world is but a china cabinet
its glass windows like curved domes
barely protecting a susceptible client
boasting beauty and fragility

stones and bulls whiz and whirl inside the place
directed by gods from trillions of miles away
neither seeking nor destroying
but mimicking and marveling
at the blue jewel’s simple complexities



march two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , ,
08 Mar 2015
12 Comments

realigning the natural order of things


spade in hand
he didn’t have to go far
to reach rock bottom
sinking the blade into the earth
at the base of the limestone steps

ground firm but forgiving
from a wet winter
it didn’t take long to uncover
a row of sunken treasure preserved
by a mother’s touch and
protective nightcrawlers

this won’t be the last time
these stones have been moved
from one place
to another
won’t be the last time uncovered
by human hands and
reassembled into some sort of order



march two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , ,
01 Mar 2015
11 Comments

back in the shack


you’ll find it in the middle of somewhere
surrounded by a fog in a field of woods
discoverable through a natural maze
filled with a variety of wildflowers

walking through the door you swear
you became someone other than yourself
and the moment you sit and open your mind
the shack is filled with a beautiful light



march two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Micropoetry, Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , ,
18 Feb 2015
7 Comments

riding the storm out


driving down the interstate
doing seventy-seven
city lights nowhere in sight
he routinely checked his side view
his rear view
his front view
occasionally checking in on
his quiet companion riding shotgun

they hadn’t spoken for over an hour
and he wondered if she had awakened

what’s wrong she whispered

I was just thinking about the grid
he said
how fragile it may or may not be
and what will happen next if it gets hit again

how much further are we going tonight
she asked

I don’t know he said
maybe until my hand stops hurting
or we see some morning light



february two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , ,
11 Feb 2015

sacrificial is the light


out in the fields
bonfires consume the air
pushed by the wind and shoving back
sparkling like stars
and speaking in new tongues

eons away prehistoric microlife awaken
hypnotic and unknowingly
attracted to the light
traveling at the speed of a lifetime
before effortlessly giving in
with unmitigated enthusiasm



february two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
28 Jan 2015
2 Comments

antarctica


colder than I could have ever imagined
here I am walking among the gentoo
as if exploring another planet

I came here to die but decided
there was too much to live for
as long as I couldn’t get out of this place



january two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Micropoetry, Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , ,
17 Dec 2014
4 Comments

mountain pass


looking west there stands
nearly insurmountable rock
not geometric like pyramids
but geologic like the very deities
that once formed them

mysterious like oceans
neither height nor depth matters
to sleeping giants
giving refuge to time travelers
desperate for a fresh start

on the other side the view
unveils unforeseen majesty
turning the world inside out
and mysteriously removing
anything worth dying for



december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , ,
26 Oct 2014
13 Comments

fleeting thoughts and butterfly nets


I borrowed someone else’s thoughts
and pinned them against a blank
sheet of paper

nothing sticks quite right the first
time so I gathered them together
and sealed them in a chrysalis
where they slowly evolved into
my own creation

(I tried returning the borrowed
thoughts to their original owners
but they all refused delivery)

new words gradually emerge
out of an abbreviated hibernation
and from there I cut and copy
and delete and tweet
and paste paste paste
all the way down easy street

but of course if it was easy
everyone would be doing it
running across backyards
and open fields
swinging butterfly nets
at their ever elusive thoughts



october two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , ,

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