jdubqca

poetry by j matthew waters

07 Jun 2015
10 Comments

Sunday Driver


It was a Sunday and the air conditioner
decided to stop working in my
1999 Aurora

I had been traveling from small town
to small town along
highway 13
convinced I would know exactly where
I was going once I got there

the price of gasoline was much cheaper
today but I already had a full tank

there was a rattle coming from the trunk
and I kept thinking I should stop to find out why

the cubs/cards game was mostly
static on the am radio
and I had no idea who was losing

there was a sign on mile marker 66
warning against picking up hitchhikers
and it was then I realized
I would soon find purpose to my day



june two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dreams, 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 , , , ,
02 Jun 2015
14 Comments

pulling weeds in a maddening world


on his hands and knees he pulls weeds
the kind that creep into spaces
lacking light and common sense
often seen but seldom understood
neither envious nor empathetic of beauty
and constantly forced
to start a new life in the most
undesirable places

to think that it’s come to this
he mutters to himself
furiously yanking the stalks but not the roots
tossing them behind his back
knowing full well they’ll resurrect
themselves in a matter of days
a reminder of how maddening
his loneliness has become



june two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in 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 , , ,
28 May 2015
4 Comments

walking in your shoes


we went for a walk because that
was all we could do
besides stopping for the ice cream man

before hitting the pavement
I greased your wheels
and you smiled and laughed and clapped
like a maniac

going downhill was harder than up
but either way I cadenced
louder than your delayed shouts of hut
two three four
hut two three

safely back home by another way
we patrolled and swept clean the place
making certain the enemy
remains buried deep beneath our feet



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged ,
27 May 2015
5 Comments

yet another trip to the landfill


there is an empty dumpster sitting in a
driveway down the street

it was delivered there yesterday I said

what the hell are you talking about she said
that dumpster got dropped off last friday

I exhale some sort of harumph
and step into the next room
quickly standing squarely in front
of the bay window
dumbfounded and staring at that thing

tomorrow will make it a week
I say to myself
almost certain tomorrow is friday again

I wonder if I they need any help over there
I yelled back toward the kitchen

silence
not even a “what-did-you-say”

I wonder if I should go fishing
I tell myself
and try to figure out exactly why
a perfectly quiet neighbor
is throwing away his life



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , ,
25 May 2015
2 Comments

there goes my hero


everyday daredevils take to the sky
challenging gravity and defying tragedy
seeking neither fortune nor fame
simply addicted to danger
and that unquenchable desire
to stare death in the face
every single bloody morning



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Micropoetry, Poetry, War Poems 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 , , , , ,
18 May 2015

it rarely rains at the coliseum


it was getaway day at the coliseum
and dogs and soda and suds were
all half-price

there were lots of suits commingled
among many of the more casually enthusiastic fans
and even the public address announcer wondered
if any of the banks were open for business

some early inning runs quickly increased
concession sales

late comers rushed to the beer tent
before finding their seats

the rookie southpaw had a no-hitter
going into the fifth
and the place was all abuzz
like it hadn’t been in years

the afternoon matinée couldn’t have been
more perfect
until the roar of the crowd
called forth the god of rain delays
who just wouldn’t go away

and gradually (but with a fight)
the stadium lost all its life
as if nothing had ever happened



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Baseball, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
17 May 2015
4 Comments

Isadore


her lover took her by the hand
leading her to places
she’s never seen before
sounds from the inside inaudible
feet kicking as they scale uphill

there are higher places to climb
than here he tells her
pointing to a pale moon in the blue sky

day surrendered to the stars
her lover reminding her of that night
when nightingales sang lullabies
and wildflowers covered their eyes

there are higher places to climb
than here he tells her
embracing the beauty of their heartbeats

morning arrived and she boarded
the hot air balloon
sailed away weeping and waving
her lover cradling a silent child
promising her all the world
would one day know her name





may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved


Author’s Note:
This poem loosely based on the song of the same name by Incubus
Click here for youtube video with lyrics

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , ,
16 May 2015

sailing the seven seas


one sea splits and divides
until there are seven
newfound creations diving deeper
and spawning new life
giving rise to the fisherman
who never touches land
conquering the art of riding the wave
charting the course of events
by way of the moon and stars
the whale and the albatross

eventually the water washes
over everything
until there is just one fisherman
until there is just one sea



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , | Leave a comment
14 May 2015
2 Comments

men dressed in red


left in the shadows of her siblings
she fell fast asleep in the back seat of daddy’s suv
out of sight and out of mind

the very idea of tomorrow never
entered her most wildest of dreams as she breathed
the shallowest baby breaths

locked inside this man-made trap
a busy world revolves around her curiosities
her arms reaching for the sky

focused on a happy ending
she wills the glass to break into million of pieces
men dressed in red rehearsing
to set her free



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , ,
13 May 2015
2 Comments

coloring for two


flip style
box top
magically opens
revealing sixty-four crayolas
fingers and voices counting and
calling each by name
eyes sparkling
cheeks blushing
lips smiling
the youngest and oldest of minds
opening up to new ideas
born on white sheets of paper



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Micropoetry, 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
09 May 2015
8 Comments

the killing fields


I hallucinated the worst was over
had traveled across fire
and rice alongside
thousands who looked nothing like me

this waking dream propelled me
back to 1972
when I was just eighteen
and volunteered to free the world

when the war ended I chose to stay
crossed state lines
as an american civilian
aiding and amusing innocent children

many times I had been captured and died
the slowest of deaths
reborn into the same fields
that used to feed a starving people



may two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , ,
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

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