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poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the tag “mental health”

24 Jan 2024
8 Comments

his schizophrenia girl


he’s a photographer & AI artist
roaming the city streets
w/his girl by his side
she likes to walk along the pier
each visit like witnessing the ocean
for the very first time

she’s an artist herself
and a doctor & a dreamer
a purple flower & self-made author
concocting stories she’s swears
are as real as the waves
splashing before her eyes

he takes her by the hand
strolling back toward the plaza
asking her what will it be today
anything she responds
as long as he’s present
the only constant in her mind





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

Posted in In the City, Poetry and tagged , , ,
13 Jul 2022

After the implosion

Don’t build a wall around your own suffering,
it may devour you from the inside.
— Frida Kahlo

I left the spade in the garden
jammed into the earth five days ago

It may be buried by now
for all I know
or it may have become uprooted
and sailed away with the wind

I don’t live in Kansas anymore
in fact I’m not quite sure where I am
some days it feels like somewhere
in the middle of Peloponnese
others in the heart of Sanremo

I’m finding getting to know
my new surroundings
to be a bit of a challenge
but I’ve committed myself
to make it work in the long run
having collapsed
all the walls around me





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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , | Leave a comment
06 Sep 2014
13 Comments

Boomerang


He started telling me things
little things
I had no business knowing

After a while the little things
mixed with the big things
and soon the important things
seemed to not matter so much

Every day for over two thousand
I did nothing but live alone with
my own thoughts

Of course I continued to enjoy
chocolate kisses and
group therapy and
kite flying

When he rescued me from
voluntary confinement
I screamed incoherently while
riding on the back of his fifty horses
hair blowing back horizontally
arms raised and flailing

Now after so many years since
time has turned around
and I find myself
drifting and regressing
but succeeding at exorcising
my very own demons



september two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , ,
10 Oct 2013
6 Comments

fifty ways


there’s something
terribly wrong with me

it seems everyone knows
what it is but me

I ask the doctor
what the hell could it be

I don’t know he says
try talking to your friends

sleepless friends whisper
empty promises

and in the morning
those promises live on


october two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dreams, Poetry and tagged , , , ,
02 Aug 2013
8 Comments

the time eraser


fleet of foot
and quite aloof
the time eraser
runs in the background
as quiet as a ghost

as mistakes
accumulate
the time eraser
springs into action
restoring sanity

troubles fade
thoughts unravel
the time eraser
intravenously
injecting new cocktails


august two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
09 Feb 2013
7 Comments

looking for mr. rorschach


the man in the white coat
hands me a square sheet of paper
encouraging me to tell him
what i think i see

on the white sheet of paper
a black and white monarch butterfly
stretches out her wings in perfect symmetry
her lips tasting the nectar of oswego tea
growing near a garden pond
filled with koi and water lilies

giving back the square sheet of paper
i lower my eyes and
tell the brain doctor
i see some chump sitting on the street corner
hand held out and repeating something silly
like penny for your thoughts



february two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , ,

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