jdubqca

poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the tag “sea”

22 Jul 2023
4 Comments

lighthouse


I am misplaced like a key
or a glove or a memory
right within plain sight

I’ve always said
I don’t belong here
no matter where I stood

I live near a river
but was promised the sea
and now my mind wanders
adrift in a vessel without a name

there’s always this calling
[call it what you will]
working in the background
occasionally handing out
a hint or a proposition
but mainly observing
like a lighthouse





july two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , ,
21 Jun 2023
1 Comment

lost in the low tide


I’ve lost a step
but not a beat
the morning sun
reminds me so

where I’ve been
means less & less
than where I’ll be
when the new moon
rises in the east

believe you me
I believe in you
& when there’s
no more trace
it simply means
I’ve set out for sea





june two thousand twenty-three
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , ,
16 Nov 2022
4 Comments

relentless alternation


lost in the crowd
I am afloat in a nameless sea
the lesser part of a wave
reaching for an orangish moon

nobody sees me
as I weave & bob & jettison
sinking & resurfacing time & again
as if manipulated by a line

the cycle is unbeaten
at will forces catching & releasing
faces becoming whitecaps
rolling forward & diving deep





november two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , ,
04 Nov 2021

without rhyme or reason


nobody knows what comes next
that is the beauty of it all
whether for better or worse
there you find yourself
at the end of the plank
afloat in the center of a deep dark sea
pistols & rapiers commanding you
to decide your own fate

what follows next
is of no consequence
for just as you had no choice
entering a strange new world
full of contradictory rhyme & reason
you are left with no option
but to plunge back into a vastness
as mysterious as the deep dark sea





november two thousand twenty-one
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , | Leave a comment
09 Jan 2019
4 Comments

so far away from the sea


zero to twenty
seemingly a lifetime
long ago microfilmed
now locked away
in a seashell vault

footprints on reflective beach
washed away ages ago
moon phase
after moon phase
erasing whatever proof
there may have been

out in the deep blue sea
young sailors
become old men in a single season
long off course
and desperately sober
stuffing farewell messages
inside empty beer bottles




january two thousand nineteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , ,
01 Jun 2018
4 Comments

emotional like the sea


sunrises come and go
climbing and dropping like clockwork
turning pale skin to red
and correcting failing vision

inside you is this acumen
as powerful as the midday sun
dying to expose itself
for all the world to see

heartbeats ebb and flow
like half moon across midnight green
at mercy with the tides
and hoping not to die




june two thousand eighteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , ,
10 Oct 2017

telephone lines


they spoke to one another by way of make-believe telephone lines
not at all like two tin cans connected by a piece of string
stretching from easter island to omnipresent moon

blessed is she who shakes off advances and terms of endearment
instead recognizing all the misfits on the receiving end
reinventing children’s games with wild abandon

and of course with wild abandon comes boisterous laughter
speeding faster than sound through those make-believe lines
the ones stretched from sea to belly of waning gibbous



october two thousand seventeen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Nature, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
19 Jul 2017

freezing of the sea


I knew once my skin had broken
things would be changing quickly

I quietly ducked down below
to retrieve a sweater

arriving back on deck I felt quite
comfortable beneath endless starlight

in my mind I was witnessing a new
moon rising half-way across the world



july two thousand seventeen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Micropoetry, Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
28 Jun 2015
4 Comments

children of the stars


children played in the sand
building empires bound to fail
if not by the morning rain
then by a bloated gibbous
sinking into the sea

they boarded a starship
and set sail into the unknown
praying to their gods
for divine guidance
during years of hardship

starting anew in an alien world
they gravitate back
where sand meets the sea
where sweet memories linger
in unfamiliar air
their curious children learning
to build their own castles



june two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Aliens, Poetry and tagged , , , ,
20 Jan 2013
9 Comments

how deep is the sea


sitting cross-legged on the floor
my mind shut the door
and i was left alone
in the dark
with a candle and a match

i closed my eyes and focused
on a fire burning in the belly
of a giant fish that swallowed me whole
delivering me to unfathomable depths
where indescribable creatures
ruled an invisible world

as ocean waves crashed on top of me
the door violently swung open
and the room became drenched
with natural light
my hand still holding
the unlit match
the candle
nowhere to be found


january two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dreams, Fishing, Poetry and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
05 Jan 2013
9 Comments

little mermaid


i opened my eyes
to a world full of ice
beautifully blue
and frozen in time

ages ago i called
out your name
chipping the surface
to find you again

with a little magic
i bent the tides
hoping tomorrow
you’d resurface alive



january two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Dreams, Micropoetry, Poetry and tagged , , , ,

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