jdubqca

poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the tag “death”

29 May 2023

interstellar communique


invisible hands mend broken thought
sweeping what can’t be salvaged
into the recycling bin

roses now grow
in the ditches of abandoned roads
colorful vegetation
wild & plush
painting over what used to be

faraway atop dilapidated roofs
angels eat lemons
waiting on their orders
pointing at the darkening clouds

the names are transmitted via waves
one after the other
an ever-expanding virtual list
of those who may be saved
followed by all the others





may two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dogma, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
11 May 2023
2 Comments

scrolling thru negatives


the proverbial power nap
do I awaken from death
yet again
or will this be
the last encore
I’ll ever perform

when I fell off the stage
they attempted
to resuscitate me
but it was too little too late
my vital signs
digressing
into a black hole

professionals
& amateurs alike
review their camera rolls
from various angles
saying my god
he stood right before me
& now like the wind
suddenly nondescript





may two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserve

Posted in Poetry and tagged , ,
30 Apr 2023
3 Comments

my first near death experience


I may have been nineteen
maybe twenty
when I nearly died
in my sleep
in my bed
sometime past midnight

below my bunk bed
an old chair smoldered
from a cigarette ash
slowly filling the room
with smoke

who awoke me
I’ll never know
but I was commanded
to wake up
as if from a dream
wake up you fool
lest you should die

when I escaped
the death chamber
the other residents
of the boarding house
quickly came back to life as well
hauling the chair away
meant for my demise





april two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dreams, Poetry and tagged , , , ,
01 Apr 2023

test crash copilot


in the passenger seat
clicking the present tense
mile after endless mile

history in the rearview
passing me by in real time
random projections traveling
at ninety miles per hour

at this speed I imagine
I’ll shortly reach my destination
the one mapped out at birth
according to the universe





april two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
15 Mar 2023
4 Comments

as birds lay dreaming


it’s three in the morning
having awakened after maybe
three hours rest

walking slowly down the steps
the blue moon filters
into the house from various angles

I command the corner lamp
to power on to level one
wondering what my dear mother would do

I imagine she went for the cabinet
squatting like a catcher
calling her next pitch

the shelf above the refrigerator
is where the spirits live
I blame them for awakening me

settling in on the bay window chair
I reminisce of the thousands of dreams
of flying & talking & singing like a bird

having faced countless perils
perhaps I’d not survived an horrific dive
or was shot out of the clear blue sky

how many times can you possibly die
in a bed of make-believe roses
how many species of birds can you be





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

Posted in Animals, Birds, Dreams, Poetry and tagged , , ,
08 Mar 2023
2 Comments

hit & run


he was in the backseat
telling me how to drive

I recognized him
from social media
& the local news

I told him to shut up
but he kept blabbering
about the rights of
pedestrians

how the hell
did you get in here anyway
I shouted over his voice

I thought you died
a week ago saturday





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

Posted in In the City, Poetry and tagged , , ,
21 Feb 2023
2 Comments

the end is near


the man on the street
carries a sign reading
the end is near
his hair past his shoulders
his beard twice as long
he is the living & breathing
symbol of the apocalypse
advertising what everyone knows
another mugging gone wrong
another massacre in a makeshift church
another death row inmate executed
by way of lethal injection
all examples actually disproving
what the canvassing prophet believes





february two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dogma, In the City, Poetry and tagged , , ,
05 Feb 2023
2 Comments

near death experiences


there I was again
writing it all down from
start to finish
the translation always failing me

and so I take out the jumpers
from the trunk of the honda
telling everyone around me
to clear

why do I find myself
translating the past
into a present tense kind of story
freezing me in time
maybe ten or twelve
or fifteen years ago

what would I say
and why would I say it
I don’t know
I just don’t know

fast forward and here I am
again
medicating in my own weird way
treating whatever it is
that ails me

I’m not a hypochondriac
I say
just an aspiring one
maybe we can try to hook up again
[so that you can show your cards]
maybe sometime later next week





february two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , ,
03 Feb 2023

the worlds that we live [in]


now that we are nearing the end
can we say it could be another way

at what moment can you point to
saying right there
that specific place in time
progressing toward the committed path
only to back off
at the eleventh hour

country boy in the big city
big city girl lost in green acres
hopping from one continent to the next
eyes set on orbiting like a satellite

there’s no debate
it’s all left to conjecture
but it’s the world we live in
and the worlds
that we don’t





february two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Aliens, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
30 Jan 2023
6 Comments

cowboy poem


this sickness seems to be all
inside me now
I’m thinking it’s not wise
to keep looking back
you say there’s nothing
wrong with me
but we both know
I’m dying

this time there’s no letting go
and I’m left
looking inside
telling myself there’s no one
who can save me now
so just go ahead
and pull the trigger
free me from myself

the lights keep changing
but in fact
they’re all the same
I can’t seem to distinguish
red from yellow to green
the horsepower is gone
barely idling in neutral
all else racing by





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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , ,
03 Jan 2023
4 Comments

dying in the dead of winter


one by one they die off
and every spring
they come back to life

they die off in threes
one-two-three
like a nursery rhyme

sometimes
all of them on the same day
other times over three days
four or five days
maybe as many as seven

we bury them
& then we move on
counting the days
the weeks
the months
the years

did you see where
she died on the third day
I was asked

yes I answered
& I am certain she will return
soon after the winter solstice
or the one after that

silence ensued
along with a smile
& a nod





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

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , ,
14 Dec 2022
2 Comments

If you could only see me


When I found myself in the U.S., and the war was at full swing in Bosnia,
I read for survival – it was a means of thought resuscitation.
— Aleksandar Hemon

A road less traveled
a place outside of the self
if only you could see me there
maybe you’d begin
to understand what it means
to be suspended in time

Not far you should find Lazarus
astir on the peninsula
fishing no doubt
waiting on the next wave

It’s nothing but a distraction
as are all the ghosts of the past
my own image
becoming ashen

Somehow you find me
and pull
me
back
in
back onto the shoulder
of a road
less traveled





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

Posted in Fishing, Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , ,
07 Dec 2022

on the poet’s deathbed


I’ve been recycling old words
into new poems
but nobody’s paying attention
instead saying mean things
about illogical intentions
questioning exactly where
they may be coming from

they all get filed away
unceremoniously —until a man
with a truck backs up
replaces the filled to gills bin
with an empty one
nobody ever questioning
how many good ones got away





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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , | Leave a comment
09 Nov 2022
1 Comment

I know how you feel


look at me
how I’m dying a slow death
confirming the fact
I am no different than you

I walk with shovel in hand
looking for a place to dig
a place to rest
[or transform into a tree]

how far I must venture
is anyone’s guess

they keep telling me
they know how I feel
which of course is an absurdity
or perhaps a simple affirmation
that I’m closer [than I’d ever admit]
to my final destination





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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , ,
30 Oct 2022

a masterful counterattack


the software was counterintuitive
a sad display of artificial intelligence
incapable of solving the woes of humanity

I tinkered with it by introducing a new code
like inserting a special character into a dream
hoping of preventing the man from dying

but the man never awoke
and the original code consumed
that which sought to destroy death





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

Posted in Dreams, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
29 Oct 2022
2 Comments

dead on a sunday morning


yes I get the point
where I don’t exist anymore
and time moves on
whatever that means

there are so many moons
yet to discover
hopping & skipping
from one to the next
as if I’m a kid again

living & breathing
outside of the fish bowl
one-way ticket
taking me to places
unimaginable





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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , ,

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