jdubqca

poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the tag “silence”

15 Oct 2022
1 Comment

remaining silent


I’ve been receiving
messages
that you’re terrified
& you don’t know why

I’ve got this idea
about said messages
& why they come to me
unwittingly

of course
since you’ve been gone
I imagined
you were anything
but terrified
having escaped
one internal war
after another

this idea has to do
with the receiver
that maybe something
is wrong with it
& instead of terrified
you’re actually ecstatic
a newfound constancy
[going on ad nauseum]
ever since electing
to remain silent





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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , ,
27 Mar 2021

pulling the trigger


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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
27 Sep 2019
9 Comments

silence is sufficient


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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , ,
05 Apr 2019
2 Comments

painting pretty pictures


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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , ,
18 Mar 2019

in due time


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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , | Leave a comment
24 Apr 2017
4 Comments

the beautiful and the silent


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

Posted in Micropoetry, Nature, Poetry and tagged , , ,
11 Apr 2017
4 Comments

right to remain silent


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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , ,
11 Oct 2014
8 Comments

where the trees had fallen


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

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , , ,
20 Oct 2012
4 Comments

sound barrier


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

Posted in Aliens, Poetry and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Post Navigation

%d bloggers like this: