crocodile clouds give way
to elephants marching
slowly into the horizon
at times they’re suffocating
pulled down by gravity
& one hundred one kite flyers
catch & release is the game
unable to tame the wild
send them back with fire & fury
what comes around stays
for maybe an eternity
or until the next near extinction
february two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
who will remember the days
on the road
trying to get somewhere
a bridge from nowhere
leads to someone else’s stories
told & untold & retold again
at some point
I’ll remember not the last time
giving birth
it’s an unending cycle
the perennial rose
seemingly dead for decades
comes back to life
on a whim
meanwhile a little dirt
& a pithy memo
float freely inside a bottle
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
I’ve been lost before
so this time I’m taking it
all in stride
having recently arrived
in montgomery
this is not the first time
I’ve been down south
and once when I was there
I thought I’d never
make it back alive
history is not on our side
old friend
it seems this time
it’s damn near impossible
for anyone to save us
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
she doesn’t want to talk
I can relate
and the other one
can’t hear too well
& doesn’t understand me
it was a short conversation
and somewhat irrelevant
just checking in I say
as if I’ve nothing left to do
the night becomes quiet
a sneaky suspicion
comes & goes as it wishes
like a dormouse in the pantry
I keep telling myself
no news is good news
as long as the fire burns itself out
and the living
keep on breathing
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
I took him out I did
the one with the rich man’s gold
gave him the gun & buried the booty
It don’t matter which way the winds blow
the landscape constantly changing
go ask any old Sasquatch
What else is new
besides being on the run again
rolled up maps in my quiver
treasures in the southern hemisphere
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
In the morning
everything is neat & tidy
a round of robins
hanging out in the pear tree
People on the outside
briefly look in but back off
the white light from within
intensifying into sudden darkness
Years later passersby
seem to take to the new windows
how they make
the manicured grass
take on a certain shade of green
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
the trick of the brain
differs from the trick of the soul
the former having to do
with mental calisthenics
the latter all about dreams
repetition goes a long way
toward mastering
the memory of dreams
always deep within
rarely showing their true colors
it is like a two-edged sword
this need for solving dreams
reliving past lives & futuristic skies
though seemingly forever
stuck in the present
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
I’m on the fence again
like a crow at the county’s edge
contemplating his next move
winter lasts forever here
sunlight bouncing off the white carpet
and back into space
I’m not much for small talk
and the pace can’t get much slower
thoughts frozen in time
inside beside the burning fire
a notebook & sharpened pencils
whispering my name
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
she died as a homegrown terrorist
having succumbed
to the voices
inside her complicated mind
it wasn’t the first or last time
she’d have died
so violently
this time by way of chemicals
mixed precisely so
how she wished she had
a dying wish
something she’d learned about
throughout the centuries
but for some reason until now
never had a chance to express
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
it’s taken hundreds of years
for eyes to open
and hearts to swell
still the correction
has not been fulfilled
strong forces push & pull
changing men
back into animals
reverting to basic needs
orchestrated by the alpha
the crucifixion was only
the beginning
thousands of years since
human trafficking
and genocides prevailing
to the child we say
yours is the generation
destined to start the process
(of not undoing but)
repairing broken mindsets
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
there is a bird at the gate
a juvenile raptor
stopping me in my tracks
do you speak english I say
he appears to be in some sort of a trance
I ask him the same question yet again
but only silence
past the gate is where I’d like to be
where I imagine
eternal happiness resides
the kind of place that keeps you coming back
there is a stone bench
low to the grassy ground
so many yards from the gate & the raptor
where I sit down
and wait my fate
from someone or something
I know nothing about
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
if it was a sunflare
it couldn’t have possibly
reached the ground
but that is what they
would have you believe
anything requiring energy
simply isn’t working
not even battery
powered flashlights
cash is king
and there’s been a run
on candles & matches
and brown paper bags
the girls on the corner
are making a killing
selling shots of lemonade
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
hand and eye and mind
crafting old world ideas
spherical globe made of glass
evolving into shape
inside rivers flow
between green rolling hills
different shades of white
circulating up above
you shake it gently
and the seasons change
spherical globe made of glass
sitting pretty on a shelf
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
yes it’s true I was lost
for the better part of my life
chasing the impossible
self-harming
neglecting & dismissing
deep inside the mosh pit
the dark cavern
the constant turmoil
with thousands of other
lost souls
the bell is ringing
its origin dating back
a half century
but I’m unable to locate
the source
its home
a place that once was
and ceases to be
all this time I thought I was
advancing forward
but truth be told
I’ve been regressing
in search of discovering
that who I truly am
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
you tell me people you don’t know but love
keep dying
I tell you I’m sorry
but there’s not much we can do about it
now that the cat’s out of the bag
I keep thinking about the crisis unfolding
on the border between Ukraine & Russia
wondering what the hell Snowden
has to do with it
you know I’m dying don’t you
you say
but since I can’t see you I say yes
in all probability you acquired the virus
I don’t ask if you’re vaccinated because
I could give a rat’s ass
now beginning to wonder why you bothered
to call
a decade ago I wouldn’t have answered
having been stationed in Afghanistan
keeping all the Humvees running
I can hear you breathing from the speaker
as if you’re upstairs in the bedroom
and I’m sitting at the kitchen table
pouring myself a shot of Jack
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
hash brownies or under glass
one getting you focused
sooner than later
it was an unusual night
radio waves not quite
behaving like they should
an interstellar oddity
traveling nearly a lifetime
breaks through your exosphere
there it is there it is
you shout in excitement
handing over the telescope
outside it’s a beautiful dawn
hands upraised & open
welcoming the next chapter
january two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
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