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poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the tag “compassion”

05 Mar 2025

Dinner bell


She found me out back
sitting on the stoop
weeping

What’s wrong?

I composed myself
and looking down at the concrete
I shook my head saying
I don’t know
no sé no sé

How long have you been back here?

I wanted to say I’ve been back
here for years
laughing & crying on occasion
but for some reason
nobody ever caught me

Having not answered I heard her
change her stance by crossing
one foot behind the other

Very well—supper is ready if you’re hungry


march two thousand twenty-five
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment
22 Jan 2024
2 Comments

a small matter of life & death


little black spider
races across the oak floor
suddenly stops
for no apparent reason

is he out of breath
and simply needs to rest
or has he forgotten
his desired destination
now recalculating a new route

from where I sit I am
less than two steps
away from the little fellow
a single question
repeating in my mind
the obvious answer
lying in my compassion for life





january two thousand twenty-four
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Animals, Poetry and tagged , , ,
17 Mar 2022
2 Comments

compassion


putting things into perspective
could be the worst thing
for the psyche

in other words
forget about making sense
of the material world

instead seek all possible ways
to free yourself
from your body

and from there & there only
will you come
to understand compassion





march two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , ,
10 Sep 2017
8 Comments

there is compassion in this world


exposed to your predicament
I refuse to feed my face
instead spend my free time
determining how to calm your fears

you say there is no place to go
and I say you’ve got to be kidding
if only you would accept the hand
reaching out to help you



september two thousand seventeen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Micropoetry, Poetry and tagged , ,
05 Jan 2016
19 Comments

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 , , ,
10 May 2014
6 Comments

The great virtue of compassion


I returned to earth as an underfed
infant in a remote village
where nurses are plenty
and painted-face doctors
routinely perform miracles

Years later my dying mother
begged me in a language
I barely understood
to escape the poverty this
barren land provided and
seek refuge in the golden city

As I traveled by foot from
desert town to desert town
visions of previous lives
entered my waking dreams
detailing how I had traveled
this road centuries ago
comforting all who hungered
by first feeding their minds


may two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dogma, Dreams, Poetry and tagged , , , , , , , , ,

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