jdubqca

poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the tag “reminisce”

under the microscope


at the university
on the campus called pentacrest
there is a valley & a dale
on one side of the river
—and just like a mirror
on the opposite side as well

it was the eighties
when the economy was shit
[or so I learned in jessup hall]
all the doomsday scenarios
leaving a pleasant taste on my palate

I remember walking up the hill
what seemed steeper than 45 degrees
keeping my head down
hauling a backpack full of books
telling myself I’m hiking on flat terrain

I always thought the eyes of the faces
would watch me with scrutiny
as if I was some sort of transplant
but in reality I was merely one of them
somehow surviving under the microscope





may two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserve

reminiscing


it’s not too late
this night of the living
awaken and sing
your lonely songs

trees like old men
bent over and supported
by crooked canes
look they say
they are just like me
we are one in the same

there is comfort knowing
we may have been down
this road before
hand in hand like
old lovers reunited
recaptured by the light

day turns into night
the songs begin again
sung by nightingales
aspiring to be angels



january two thousand seventeen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

heart and soul – a poem for the weary


he walks alone
because he has no place
to go
yet he knows
as long as he keeps moving
the world will never slow down

he smiles because
he was told it would keep warm his soul
and he figured
that would be a good thing
in case his heart went cold

remembering is what
he does best
not the yesterday kind of remembering
but the kind
where you go way back when
the kind
that makes you smile
and makes your heart reminisce



july two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

what’s your name


we used to rehearse our lines
in the lounge at memorial hall
back when you could
smoke cigarettes inside
and buy drafts of beer for fifty cents

I recall saying I would never
forget those lines but
they seem to have escaped me
and I am left with only a memory
of how the sunlight
bounced off the glass-framed
paintings hanging on the walls
making your eyes
appear as a certain shade of green
that for some reason reminded me
of the time I sailed the aegean sea




january two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

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