jdubqca

poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the tag “mystery”

02 May 2024
4 Comments

Private eyes


I cut back the rose bushes
branches & stems & canes
right down to the green

It is early April & cold
a slight wind bemoaning change
—& just like in a recurring dream
a set of eyes (or maybe two)
watching
my every move

I should be wearing gloves
but I never do
my hands with an occasional puncture
blood beading & oozing here & there—
their eyes focused on the color scarlet
I imagine they are imagining
what it would taste like
to lick my wounds

I try to guess what animal
the eyes belong to
but they are shadowless
& possess no language

how I know they are there
remains a mystery to me
but a movement of light in my peripheral
has me looking inward


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

Posted in Animals, Dreams, Poetry and tagged , ,
29 Apr 2024

rogue planet


do you see it there
a foreigner in the night sky
a light never before seen
solid & unblinking
perhaps a child of mars or venus
or a runaway satellite
hungry for attention
& inching closer
with each lunar cycle
until one night suddenly
completely out of the picture


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

Posted in Aliens, Micropoetry, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
25 Apr 2024

dreaming of double jeopardy


so I agreed to met with this person
who said they had no agenda
—up to twenty inquiries allowed
but I had another thing in mind
(having awakened in a bed
that was not my own)
such as presenting each question
in the form of a wrong answer


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

Posted in Dreams, Micropoetry, Poetry and tagged , , | Leave a comment
06 Mar 2024

castaways in flux


here we are again
on an uninhabited island
as if characters
in a sociological novel
in the process of being written

you kick up your feet
and everyone else [reflexively]
does the same

on any given day there may be
three or seven or thirteen of us
sitting ‘round the table
the fluctuations a subject of
deliberation
and of course
disbelief

there are no seasons here
making it easy to keep time
due to the sun & moon & tides
only occasionally does someone know
what day it is

the last time there was a quorum
someone proposed
there must be a conduit somewhere
a wormhole if you will
which could very well explain
all the fluctuations
but not our continual presence





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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
08 Feb 2024

vanished


it took to the air
disappearing like a whisper

it could be anything
a petal a leaf a feather
in the end becoming nothing
save a memory

thoughts escape into thin air
like nessy
or the abominable
whatever happened to
white rabbits & top hats
UFOs or UAPs
—what of entire cities





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

Posted in Micropoetry, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
27 Dec 2023

recording the unknown


how am I to decide
which is the right way
the fork in the road is deceiving
there may be another route
underground
or aboveground

someone stole the signage
that pointed in so many different directions
—some say it may have been
banksy himself

they used to keep the extension
ladder
hanging in the garage
but now it leans against the back of the house

the kids in the neighborhood
fooled into thinking
there must be something worthwhile to photograph
through that second story window





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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , | Leave a comment
08 Dec 2023
1 Comment

right along the tracks


I was driving home crossing the tracks
followed by a moderate left bend
a car parked on the river side of the road
to my left a dark figure walking along the railbed
hands in jacket pockets & eyes cast downward

it was early december & the sun had all but set
creating bright streaks of color along the horizon
sparkling across the quiet wakes
the lone figure becoming darker by the second

what could he be looking for this time of day
a scarf or pair of gloves or glasses
maybe some sort of precious keepsake

suddenly I smell rock & wood & steel
as if I was right there with him
but of course by this time
it was too late for me to turn around





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

Posted in In the City, Poetry and tagged , , ,
03 Nov 2023
3 Comments

scene of the crime


in my twenties at university
my habits were more pronounced
than today—quite like my memory

but nonetheless
I was instantly
taken back there
involuntarily

I guess I got to thinking about
the title of this poem while listening
to the lyrics of an alt-rock song
streaming from my car speakers
—afterwards becoming stuck in my
head like a heartache

from there I found myself
back in iowa city
seated at a second floor bar
[maybe] directly above the airliner
the premises about the size
of four boxing rings
—the staircase in the center
vertically challenging

the details are sketchy at best
but there were nunchucks
& a blade involved
one combatant a karate extraordinaire
the other a cross between
batman & edward scissorhands





november two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reservedeyes and rise above

Posted in In the City, Poetry and tagged , , ,
08 Oct 2023

the awakening


you can see now
now that the veil has been lifted
and the clouds have cleared
trillions of stars in the night sky
coming into view
for the very first time

it’s then you tell yourself
how they’ve been there all along
yourself previously
buried deep underground
like a dormant seed
waiting to be awakened





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

Posted in Micropoetry, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
18 Aug 2023

the large hadron collider


what’s the point of smashing particles in a
machine that goes round & round ad nauseam

I am a greyhound
racing around the track
chasing the rabbit that somehow
runs faster than me
but miraculously I don’t break into
millions of tiny pieces

having given up on the rabbit
I decide to take the form of a roadrunner
running in circles in the desert for no
good reason
my speed increasing with every lap
my body staying perfectly intact

eventually I retire into the night
my body once again changing shape
this time becoming trillions of grains of sand
trapped inside a glass timer
slipping ever so slowly from the top
to the bottom
until at last
I am a mass of nothingness





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

Posted in Animals, Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
31 Jul 2023

cloak-and-dagger


incredulous stories
eye-witness accounts
alien spacecraft
& underwater intrigue
black holes leaking
hypothesized holograms

a mix of ordinary
story-tellers
& agents of the state
detailing extraordinary events
like a fiction writer
fine-tuning their craft

the public cannot believe
believers calling it witchcraft
unable to surmise
how the center of the universe
can simply reside
inside their very minds





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

Posted in Aliens, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
30 Mar 2023
2 Comments

buried treasure


not too deep beneath the surface
I am being called to action
a map left on a coffee table
the airport an hour away

there is a great distance between
today & buried treasure
subconsciously stumbled upon
while whistling with the wind

if you ever see me again
likely I’ll be unrecognizable
perhaps a little younger
more than likely more sensible





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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , ,
13 Jan 2023
2 Comments

Fortunate Son


Let’s see
how shall we begin
to describe the fortunate son

It’s impossible they say
a trick question
the description itself but a
mystery
like who killed Marie Rogêt

In the end
there is no such thing
except for a brief moment in human
history
that maybe just maybe
he was the boy next door
voted mostly like to become
an unsolved serial killer





januarytwo thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in In the City, Poetry and tagged , , ,
19 Aug 2022
3 Comments

working on a mystery


playing with house money
we experiment with more odds
mixing wisdom with youthfulness
courtesy of an unknown god

you scratch your proverbial head
asking which way next
pretending to comprehend
how the road only goes ahead

you’re in the passenger seat
someone else behind the wheel
no longer working on a mystery
mere mortals merely dreaming





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

Posted in Dreams, Poetry and tagged , ,
01 Jun 2022

a child again


front door opens
an ornamental carving
made of oak painted barn red
stained glass eyes
cloudy & invariably blue
welcoming

once inside
curtains rise & drapes open
gardens & courtyards
and disappearing slides
a library above
a darkroom below
little people handing out tickets
to the mystery show

there’s no turning back now
you take a ticket
slip it into your pocket vest
and take your place in line
as if a child again





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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , | Leave a comment
07 May 2022

standing the test of time


passing the test of time
is an impossible endeavor
if ever there was one

let’s dig into the past
explanations
layered one after another
facts & tidbits
clues & black holes
striking gold
unfolding new worlds

there is no time there

and when you’re weighed
down by the body
it’s critical to keep the
big picture
into perspective

in fact it’s essential
that you’ll not tell a soul
what it is you know
and precisely when
it’s going to happen





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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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