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poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the tag “Poetry”

05 Apr 2014
6 Comments

summer wasn’t summer without baseball


out of the fields and onto my bike
glove and spikes
strapped on the rack
I race through the cemetery shortcut
straight to the diamond

to get away was to get away
from the house of rules
where the master
made sure it was okay to disappear
as long as the work was done

transformed into a collective whole
I become one of many parts
dreaming to be the hero
while trying not to make an error
examining the stitches
hand-sewn on my pants
as well as the fastball
playing music beneath my chin



april two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Baseball, Poetry and tagged , , ,
30 Mar 2014
7 Comments

narcissus


show me something pretty
she said
something that will make me smile
and say oh my
the world is so wonderful

I drew a daffodil
emerging from an inch of snow
her golden inflorescence in
stark contrast to the dilapidated
barn in the background

she’s perfect she said
but I’m saddened
nobody in the world
except herself
will behold her beauty




march two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , ,
29 Mar 2014
3 Comments

down on the farm


she thought she knew
the difference between
art and trash
but when her life
became such a mess
everything around her
became just plain wrong

I’ll be damned she thought
ripping up the dear john letter
if that racist poet hasn’t resorted
to exploiting sex slaves again

desperate for fresh air
she walks the yard
and spits on the ceramic pig
pissed at the world
and swearing to herself one day
someone will rescue her from
this godforsaken farm



march two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , ,
02 Mar 2014
7 Comments

Aim of the Gunfighter


I stand perfectly still
at dawn
my hands by my side
eyes frozen in time
staring fifteen paces ahead
focused on the pistol that once
taught me all I knew

If I should not live past this
moonless night
collect all the weapons
from inside my mind
and bury them deep by my side
as immeasurable treasure
in an unmarked grave



march two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , , ,
28 Feb 2014
2 Comments

yesterday’s sunshine


you store it in virtual bottles
stashed away in far away places
sealed tight and out of sight

you inspire to relive the bottling
hidden from everyday reality
filled with genuine creativity
and dying to be retold

reopening yesterday’s sunshine
is as dangerous as blackbirds
sulking in the shadows
calling forth the ghost of cruelty
to usher in new beauty




february two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , ,
22 Feb 2014
25 Comments

Aurora


Princess of the skies
disobeys her father’s wishes
dancing in her emerald dress
past dawn and into dusk
perplexing an uneasy moon
with her reckless abandon
and attracting the brightest stars
who worship her every move

An impatient King issues
ultimatum to carefree daughter
who quickly rejects the rainbow prince
in favor of the northern lights
cast away on earth’s outer edges
she forever dances the night away
entrancing trillions of stars with her
grace and psychedelic beauty



february two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

This poem is based on “Fable of the North Pole”
and was written for dVerse~ Poets Pub
“Let’s be fabulists” Posted by Björn Rudberg in Poetics

The moral of the fable is every choice has its tradeoff,
but it’s easy to choose if your priorities in life are clear.

Click here for more on this beautiful story

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , ,
21 Feb 2014
13 Comments

no going back


there is no going back
I think to myself
sitting alone and staring out the bay window
as if I was under house arrest

outside it is very white
and very cold
and I would do anything to see
someone walk by with their dog
but it is too cold for that
it is too cold for even the mailman
to swing by I suppose

I meander to the back window and look
outside for signs of life

I squint at all the undressed trees
sticking out of the blinding white ground

show me a juvenile cardinal I say to myself
but there are no juvenile cardinals
to be found

I go into the kitchen and sit at the counter
open a can of nuts I had stashed
away months ago
muttering to myself
there is no going back


february two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , ,
19 Feb 2014
1 Comment

The Soul Bar


We go there after life and live it up
for as long as we can stand
on our own two feet
or get thrown out for playing
karaoke with the house band

We go there after life and swap
stories about the strange times
on the old blue jewel
when it was easier to feel
the pain of man’s music
than wake up sober
and pretend everything is just fine

We go there after life and find
new pals who nobody ever
heard of before
the kind of fellows who died
young and never got a chance
to spread their wings
until they stumbled upon this place
hidden beneath the rubble



february two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , ,
14 Feb 2014
16 Comments

on valentine’s day


love is like an open prairie
self-sufficient and showcasing
every true color this world has to offer
weaving blankets of warmth on
cool autumn evenings
and providing shade to weary souls

love is like the birds of the prairie
welcoming each day with
songs of praise
awakening the flowers whose petals
unfold and open their hearts
without a single solitary condition





february two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , ,
10 Feb 2014
4 Comments

that gun in your hand


click click bang
reload your clip and
take aim of my heart

I don’t give a damn and
I don’t want to know
how you found the courage
to become someone you’re not

click click bang
bring me to my knees
and make me close my eyes
but just promise me one thing
promise me the world
won’t end tonight



february two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , ,
26 Jan 2014
4 Comments

blessed are the lucky ones


when someone says they make
their own luck
I can only imagine how blatantly
foolish they must be
believing having control
of their own destiny
is actually possible by someone
other than the gods

for free spirits such as these
I hope they never
ever know
it’s just a matter of time
before they come to realize
luck has nothing to do
with their lot in life
nor their untimely demise




january two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , , , ,
22 Jan 2014
8 Comments

earthbound and elemental


she keeps old zippo
and stick matches
stashed inside denim pockets
just in case something
ever needs starting

innocent dragons
breathe in knowledge
exhaling old world ideas
to winded children
dying for fresh air

oceans rock and roil
worshipped by clouds
parading as aliens
showering the coast
inexorably

deep within the soil
life awakens
stirred by foot driven shovels
uncovering rock
never before seen



january two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , , , ,
16 Jan 2014
12 Comments

restoration project


they fell from the sky
these transparent wings of mine
tattered and torn
and superfluously useful

night and day I stitched away
new leather onto old
rubbing and shining and redefining
a finer shade of gold

I hung them all alone inside
an unlit closet
wherein they stretched and glowed
and quietly repaired
imperfections I could not mend



january two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dogma, Poetry and tagged , , , , , , ,
11 Jan 2014
6 Comments

on getting to first base


she caught me smiling
and pretended she really
never glanced my way

in a bout of bravery I decided
to get up from the patio table
and walked over to hers
and asked her softly
why she had looked my way

oh you reminded me of someone
she began
someone I once met in cincinnati

have you ever been to cincinnati
she asked me
batting her eyes and using her slender
index finger to flick off the long ash
from her virginia slim

no I said
I never have but I once promised myself
I’d like to become a speck in a sea of red
at the stadium there on the ohio river
and catch a foul ball with my bare hands

that sounds like fun she said
why don’t you sit down and share with me
more of your baseball fantasies





january two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Baseball, Poetry and tagged , , , , ,
05 Jan 2014
12 Comments

the blue in her eyes


the little girl sat on a park bench on
a late sunday morning in her
white freshly pressed dress
and white lacy gloves
holding a petite black purse
and wearing black catlike glasses

a slight breeze
brushed back her wavy blond hair

a young man kneeled before her
pointing a camera her way
snapping photograph
after photograph
telling her to look this way and that
using words like angel
and baby
and darling
as if she was a magazine model

now smile he told her
but she would not smile

please smile darling
show me your lovely smile

but she refused to smile
without offering an explanation
clenching the clasp of her petite black purse

becoming frustrated the young man
stood tall and begged her to tell him
why she would not smile

moments of silence ensued
except for the wind traveling between them
brushing forward her hair
and shrouding the blue in her eyes



january two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , ,
01 Jan 2014
2 Comments

new year revolution


we went underground with new people
the ones we always wanted
to hang with
but never configured coordinates
exactly right

smuggling firearms and ammunition
inside gift-wrapped packages
we took off
on one-way interstellar flights
prospecting peace

a new revolution bravely speaks
against centuries of hate
taking off
with old ideas in real-time practice
to change the world


january two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , ,

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