A late summer night
small upstairs bedroom
green-eyed boy equipped
with flashlight
comic books
& transistor radio
hopping from one world
to the next
sublimely time traveling
by way of frequencies
of an alien kind
march two thousand twenty-five
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
vast fortunes
buried deep at sea
alien forces
performing clandestine
nonstop operations
night by night
planet earth
routinely becoming
a little less valuable
january two thousand twenty-five
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
we were relaxing in the future
sitting on the edge of a pier
our legs dangling above the waves
motioning toward us
like clockwork
it reminded us of an ocean
but wondered
what the locals call it
curious whether or not
they name their bodies of water
soon the second sun would rise
october two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
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
they’re talking about us
refractive plants
exhibiting arms
& shoulders
working on
additional features
if you cut them down
will they bleed
if you dig & divide
will they multiple tenfold
there is concern
in the fields
where the alien plants
[in short order]
mimic what they’ve learned
on earth thus far
soon they will be
able to think
soon they will be able
to speak
is it merely a coincidence
that the harvest moon
is scheduled to arrive
any night now
july two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
nobody said it would be easy
as they ran for the hills
a host of tornadoes on their tails
the taste of sulfur on their tongues
the weather radios ran out of juice
maybe twenty years ago
though interruptions kept recurring
the children know best where to hide
their knowledge immeasurable
ever since the flattening
of the learning curve
what’s next is nobody’s business
weather balloons competing
with drones & killer kites
rogue rockets taking off from cornfields
june two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
they entered my house unannounced
dapper in blue uniforms & purple berets
sporting steel-tipped boots & cotton-white gloves
—silver stars pinned to shirt pockets
pistols in holsters & papers in hand
they acted as if I wasn’t even here
the three of them moving in unison
methodically going from room to room
one taking photographs
another taking notes
the leader giving orders via hand signals
opening drawers & cabinets
an occasional cough & chortle
when they went upstairs
I stayed on the main floor
& when they never returned
I decided it was no longer safe to stay here
may two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
Dirty scientists
geoengineering the weather
in cahoots with dirty bureaucrats
double agents most likely
Slow burns on land & sea
north of 50 degrees latitude
dimming the lights
casting shadow puppets
embedded in the clouds
Once upon a time acid rain
was the talk of the town
has since decoded itself
Godzilla acting like a good guy
but in a constant state of retreat
losing to assault rifles
crafted & controlled by mere children
It’s just a matter of time
before the Ark
takes off
to Mars
may two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserve
the poem will write itself
there is no need to worry
you just have to free the mind
from whatever heaviness
falsely resides inside
a simple flashing light
whether external or otherwise
can change the future
an apple of unusual delight
wobbling atop a table
if you find yourself
sailing in the multiverse
like some sort of angel child
be sure to rack up the points
on the nebula galilee
february two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
tonight we pause & give thought
to the morning light
having just traversed various points
of the universe
in a matter of mere minutes
at times there is strangeness
in ubiquity
skipping from one reality
to the next
only to find ourselves questioning
familiarity
there is a door in our peripheral
wooden or metal or glass
it matters not
and for the time being
we sit in silence
waiting for our marching orders
january two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
how proud the sun must be
giving life incredulity
inside her own little galaxy
as a member of her third family
she gave me life & took it away
repetitiously
to the point where I was
unmistakably incapable of
learning from past transgressions
and so without fanfare
she banished me from her realm
sent me sailing into interstellar space
hopeful one day another star
would pull me in
september two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
he’s not eaten in a while
you can easily tell
legs & arms moving
[as if] involuntarily
shoving into his face
anything he can get
his paws on
hominid or animal
it’s too early to tell
definitely not from
anyone’s locality
having crashed into
the wild wild rainforest
once upon a time
august two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
Much is going on these days this much we already know
the impossible is the New Normal
the Old One rewritten into temporarily discarded Fairy Tales
Bad Guys overshadow the Good Ones
the latter working haphazardly behind the scenes
occasionally sipping Whiskey & smoking Sensimilla
Nellie has become a distinct possibility alternating between
Home Base & Lake Geneva or outside Salt Lake City
the Cookie Monster too
his/her/their creators learning to clone in real time
he/she/they seen on Cruise Ships & Aeroplanes
a few spotted paddling along the Red River of the South
there are Time Capsules continually lifting off into space
& if you have enough Coin we may never see you again
july two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
in the next room on the shelf
there is a box
inside of a box inside of a box
sitting there like a chameleon
untouched for how long
is of no concern
—untouched and its contents
as magical as the galaxies
surrounding the milky way—
containing the code
disguised as ancient recipes
holding on to everything that’s been
and anything from the future
july two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
jdubqca 