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poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the tag “poem”

04 Jan 2015
7 Comments

tuesday bloody tuesday


he was tired of being nice
so he moved on to better things
hooked up with some of the boys on
thursday night south of eighteenth street

his woman wasn’t happy with some
of the choices he was making
proceeded to tell him so friday morning

he bought a handgun and spent
his saturday at the pistol range
clearing his mind by repeatedly
reciting bang bang bang

on sunday she sat polishing her rosary
wearing dirty white gloves
church bells ringing in the distance

when monday night mob turns raw
he slips into a brand new world
picking up instincts and aiming
to get a clear shot at something



january two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in In the City, Poetry and tagged , , , ,
03 Jan 2015
2 Comments

in remission


things build up inside
so when you can’t breathe right
you reach for something
that really isn’t there
like that new stuff you heard
just arrived to town

clean for weeks
you walk the streets
hitting bistros and internet cafés
but you steer clear of the bars
where former junkies
prey on innocence

chasing down demons
is not your specialty
but for the moment the madness
inside remains at bay

moving away from the lights
your inside limits have no bounds
(as if you have no bones)
and for the moment
you are afraid but convinced
your breathing will not stop



january two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in In the City, Poetry and tagged , , ,
01 Jan 2015
4 Comments

I wasn’t too worried about tomorrow


I had all this money stashed away
and I didn’t want anyone to know about it

It kept me up at night thinking about how
many different ways it could make me happy

but I really didn’t want to disturb it
so all it did was grow and grow and grow

I once thought it would solve any problem
thrown its way
but after withstanding
inflation and corrections and acute depression
all it ever really gave me was artificial respiration



january two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , ,
31 Dec 2014
6 Comments

one-way ticket out of here


I walked the back streets into the
heart of the city
pulling on cigarillos and
spitting on beetles

it was noon and I should have
been in school
but the gray sky somehow
took hold of my mind
led me away
to where I was needed most

weeks earlier I had been hoping
to hook up with the outlaw josey wales
but that opportunity had
come and gone
and I was left holding my
head in my hands

(I reminded myself that back home
there is only so much dirt to sweep)

god’s plan is not mine to question
but I’m grateful for the few
hundred dollars in my front pocket
not to mention a one-way ticket
and my mother’s rabbit’s foot





december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in In the City, Poetry and tagged , , ,
28 Dec 2014
10 Comments

poetry is a story


poetry is a story
a picture
a locomotive out of control
a spaceship exiting inner space
connecting with anything
that may or may not rhyme

december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Micropoetry, Poetry and tagged , , ,
27 Dec 2014
9 Comments

anytime the sky is crying


I’ll be damned if I had good
reason chasing any fool thing
for a pat on the back
or some sort of medal that later
winds up in the river

I’ll be damned if I knew
what I’d do next
if I didn’t have money
to pay the rent

At least I got enough scratch
to frequent the Irish district
twice or thrice a week
swapping sailor stories
with make-believe monsters
who never remember your name

Chasing any fool thing at least
gives a man a little hope
like a little piece of sunshine
stuffed inside his pocket
never understanding its power
until it’s almost too late



december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , ,
26 Dec 2014
2 Comments

more dangerous dead


twenty-five lifetimes ago
there I was
witnessing the truth with my
very own eyes
chronicling
the birth
the childhood lessons
the ministry of the baptist
(and his beheading)
the sermon on the mount
the riding into town on a donkey

since then throughout
all these centuries
I’ve watched this beautifully
tolerant notion of community
torn down and
snatched by ordinary thugs
manipulated and maligned
encompassing the earth
like thin strands of truth
woven from east to west

and if you pluck one here
or strum a few over there
you just might create
a little harmony

or a whole lot of war



december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dogma, Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , , ,
24 Dec 2014
12 Comments

the cry of the starling


on this night of nights a lost
starling sings his lonely song
as a pale moon chases
venus high above the tallest trees
and faint stars transit the unknown

on this night of nights a natural
flame flickers and streams
chain reacting and traveling swiftly
to the four corners of the world
sparked by the cry of the lonely starling
ushering in a brand new light





december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Birds, Poetry and tagged , , , , , ,
22 Dec 2014

wild wild ordination


there is good reason to cheer
for the boys are free to go
released from recent obligations
that left them silenced

neither church nor state
had the power to hold them
(or so the story goes)

back on their horses the boys
bolted out of town
firing blanks at the moon
and rehearsing gospel music
hellbent on delivering the good news
wherever there is none



december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dogma, Poetry and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment
21 Dec 2014
2 Comments

rich and powerless


the famous and fortunate
descendants of royalty and paupers
never worry about dying
for their light shines bright
deep inside their minds

flying past obscurity
they find themselves mainstream
craving to be recognized
like poets or painters
philosophers or prophets
musical artists luring you
closer to the stage

it matters not who they are
or why they were sent here
for sadly the multitude
gaze their eyes skyward
for entirely different reasons



december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , ,
20 Dec 2014
4 Comments

grayscale


memories stacked neatly
in locked up photographs
once prominently displayed
now distant and dustless
like oddly real dreams
never truly understood

do I dare open the box
and relive all the fears
hidden behind nervous smiles
below cloudless skies
never imagining the future
would ever come to this



december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , ,
17 Dec 2014
4 Comments

mountain pass


looking west there stands
nearly insurmountable rock
not geometric like pyramids
but geologic like the very deities
that once formed them

mysterious like oceans
neither height nor depth matters
to sleeping giants
giving refuge to time travelers
desperate for a fresh start

on the other side the view
unveils unforeseen majesty
turning the world inside out
and mysteriously removing
anything worth dying for



december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , ,
14 Dec 2014
7 Comments

spinning further and further out of control


time has brought change though it seems
everything remains the same
except that there are more of us going about our lives
doing the things we love to do and
doing nothing about the things we hate
because the challenge is just too daunting

so we allow all-powerful corporations to
continue making profits on weaponry and war
allow all-powerful governments to preach
peace while covertly perpetuating
conflict in faraway places
maintaining instability that has lasted
thousands of years
where lives are continually torn down and
wearily rebuilt over and over again
where faces of children
don’t understand the meaning of happiness
because they are forced to live in a world
continually spinning in a direction that is
contradictory to everything decent and just



december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , , ,
12 Dec 2014
2 Comments

Show and Tell in America


I didn’t expect anyone to believe me
so I kept lying about how many
men I had killed in the desert

My hands were as steady as my
steely eyes as I pretended
to be discharging my sidearm at some
goon I called Grover

When the bullets ran out I hunched
down and quickly reloaded

I could tell some of the kids
were disinterested but most
were raising their hands enthusiastically
pelting me with naive questions
as I was hauled away like some
common criminal void of any rights





december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , ,
08 Dec 2014

when too many are thrown on the street


and the police have sanctioned bullets
and the judges have their natural-born faults
and some of the locally elected are faithful
and some of them are corrupt
and the higher up you go
from city to county
from county to state
from state to region to super region
the higher you climb the greater the ratio
between the just and unjust
between good and evil
and there’s no telling who is winning
because this kind of winning is artificial
artificial like misguided dreams
and make-believe handguns



december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in History, Poetry and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment
07 Dec 2014
3 Comments

Meeting yet again


I never told you I was a chameleon
though sometimes
I’ve said my eyes are the color of money
other times they’re as blue
as my melancholic thoughts

Sometimes I tell myself I should call in sick
but every monday morning
you talk me out of it
and suddenly I’m gone
like a paperboy on a mission

Whistlers usher in five o’clock and
we meet yet again at our favorite pub
toasting to good health
and choosing favorite colors
giving new meaning to our astonishing lives



december two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , ,

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