I’m not sure if I hear anything or not
lone sirens in the distance
somewhere a baby’s cry
a happy sparrow in the tina crab
I turn to look & there is nothing left
I’ve been down this road before
taking a right turn at the tee
plucking invisible clues along the way
a certain sound or maybe silence
triggering all sorts of memories
march two thousand twenty-one
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
there is no swiping the slate clean
or turning of a page
or undoing what’s been done
there is only a new day
and even so that is never a given
we write letters and make
phone calls
sometimes we practice what
we might say
what we might commit to memory
but somehow it never comes out right
so we continue moving forward
as if everything in the past matters not
and now I think to myself on a quiet
friday night that more often than not
silence is completely sufficient
september two thousand nineteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
I sit in exaggerated silence
corner lamp dimly lit
open book by my side
it’s a story about a spanish
painter addicted to opioids
a novella really
with flowery words
and beautifully naked models
who come and go at their leisure
I had to put the book down
because it reminded me of my own
missteps and consequences
how it led to this very moment
sitting in exaggerated silence
while outside early april rains
continue to fall torrentially
april two thousand nineteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
before silence takes over
your former self
consider conquering it
on your own terms
in your own sweet time
before silence takes over
[the entire world]
consider taming your own
wicked thoughts
rehabilitating them
from feral tangents
into purposeful intentions
worthy of imitating
fear not the silence
towering over your domain
find comfort knowing
she’s been with you
since the very beginning
march two thousand nineteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
she arrived unannounced
redirected from an unknown god
breaching the exosphere without a sound
though coming to life by starlight
she disguised herself as human
finding solace within her own garden
as time passed the ground flourished
showcasing colors never before seen
reshaping the landscape of a parallel world
april two thousand seventeen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
it was nothing you said
she assures me
walking away toward the kitchen
her left thumb wrapped in a wash cloth
she had managed to stop the bleeding
but not the awkward
mood of the room
that quickly dissolves into some
sort of silent aura
you know I go on to say
there was a time when respect
actually meant something
yes there was a time
I go on to say
under my breath
slowing my pace
nearly whispering
listening to every single word
I had been meaning to say
april two thousand seventeen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
taking trails less traveled
led me to where the
trees had fallen
where horses long ago
abandoned the woods
falling to my knees I
listened ‘neath the silence
felt inner earth’s heartbeat
inside my very bones
faintly alive and hurting
lost generations remain
charred in this place
recycled into ghostly ashes
reshaped into
ever-changing apparitions
silence ensued and robbed
me of all my thoughts
leading me to believe
the only way out was
through my imagination
october two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
the room trembled with silence
as i sat alone on the high chair
punching keys and the space bar
with fingers and thumbs
moments earlier the silence
was interrupted with the clip clip clipping
of the fingernail clipper
and i remember thinking
what a masterful invention it was
as i purposely cut the left hand nails
much shorter than the right
the room’s silence grew louder
with terrible thoughts racing out of my mind
ricocheting off the walls and ceiling and floor
before returning to my fingers
and magically appearing on the plasma screen
i remember thinking it was such an awful silence
as tears of joy swelled in my eyes
my fingers racing millions of miles per millisecond
traveling beyond space and time
before crashing beautifully
into this alien creation
october two thousand twelve
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
