jdubqca

poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the tag “displaced”

07 Jul 2024
2 Comments

getting out of this country


we didn’t like the neighbors anymore
so we packed our bags
destination unknown

no matter the next place
we felt displaced
& so off we went from town to town
like escaped slaves
on the run

this country was supposed to be
the land of the free
but everywhere we went
we witnessed poverty
& persecution

once upon a time far far away
we thought ourselves like anyone else
but now that we’re continually
being chased away
it’s safe to say we’re on the short list
to be replaced


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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , ,
26 Mar 2017
10 Comments

Sometimes missing in action


I’d been working on my alibi
forever and a fortnight
yet all I got is nothing
except for a few lines from
a song I used to sing in 1999

I’d been missing in action
upwards of a decade
living off the land and sea and
learning to communicate in
languages other than my own

Haphazardly discovered by an
undercover search party
I ditched the executive karaoke club
and slipped onto the next ferry
to Singapore via Batam



march two thousand seventeen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , ,
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 , , , ,

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