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poetry by j matthew waters

Archive for the tag “war”

10 Oct 2014
6 Comments

finding your way back home


friday night limousine riders
speeding some seventy
miles per hour
cut up lemons and dispense
margaritas without rocks

outside airport secret police
intercept intelligence and
issue search warrants
briskly escorting illicit riders
to a flight of their life

dropped behind enemy lines
grown boys sober up quickly
burning camouflaged parachutes
and skirting the edges
hoping to find their way home
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october two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , , ,
17 Sep 2014
2 Comments

perpetual suffering


we didn’t sign up for this
but there we were
pistols raised above our heads
faces covered with red
paisley bandanas
ending fairy tale lives
and abetting a revolution
handed down for centuries

everyone knew the wild west
would eventually cycle back
to the eastern front
where women lay low and
protect and feed their children
until old enough
to perpetuate the suffering


september two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , , ,
31 Jul 2014
10 Comments

broken


world is broken in so many ways
though weapons are working
perfectly fine
precisely hitting
ordinary targets deemed
to be harboring
neither aspiration nor dream

we’ve heard this story retold
ad nauseam
seen it played out in theater
(time and again)
two-bit actors slaughtering
their lines as directed by
apocalyptic producers
feeding on senselessness





july two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , ,
22 Jun 2014
4 Comments

true interpretations


it rained all night
and while I slept sharks
swam in circles around my body
either protecting me from myself
or saving me for later

awakened by wind sweeping in
morning sunshine
I took to the kitchen
coffee maker abuzz
birds of the air outside my window
like chatty statuettes
swapping old stories

settling back into real-time solitude
I revisit casualties
both foreign and domestic
making headlines on print and
television and internet
their bodies dead or dying
my prayers hoping they find
doves soaring on the other side

unable to shake the current
course of events
I stare into my oversized cup
of morning petroleum
dorsal fins circling above the surface
daring me to find out the true
interpretation to my dream


june two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Birds, Dreams, Nature, Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , , ,
26 May 2014
4 Comments

hurry sundown


hurry sundown
so we may pretend
flashes in the sky are lightning bolts
and sirens sounding in the night
mere weather warnings

hurry sundown
so we may pretend
that the faraway drums are rolling thunder
and the stomping of boots on concrete
just a relentless downpour

hurry sundown
so we may pretend
to sneak away like children of the night
uncaging the white doves held captive
by enemies with false memories




may two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , , ,
16 Feb 2014
4 Comments

trapped inside this city of mine


I am a stranger in my own land
cast aside like stale eye candy
wrapped in my own shame

I sit half-naked on the curb
a stick in my hand
drawing circles in the dirt
and wondering
who will save me this time

if only I had taken the ho chi minh trail
with those crazy americans
back in sixty-seven
my misery would have exploded into
millions of pieces
and I would now be looking down
on the wonders of the world


february two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in In the City, Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , ,
23 Nov 2013
11 Comments

1984


nobody cares about nineteen
eighty-four anymore

nobody seems to remember
how lovely the wine tasted
nor how the hash under glass
made the world such a
beautiful place

there is no rewinding
there is only nineteen eighty-four
when the world mushroomed
and there were no more
children to be born

some say the final war
brought lasting peace
to this world

but nobody can be sure


november two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , ,
19 Oct 2013
2 Comments

revolution number nine


row after row of desktop
computers play leapfrog in a
pentagon controlled pole barn

outside angry peasants wave
baseball bats and throw
expletives at robotic guards

as night collapsed into chaos
revolutionaries trade flashlights
for burning man torches

lights darting above oversee
armed forces hellbent on
accelerating the tipping point

morning fog surrenders to man
and his drum machines
moving on to the next outpost



october two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , , , ,
07 Oct 2013
2 Comments

changing machines


the sun went down
time after time
viewed by synthetic eyes
painted green
computed by plasma minds
learning to change the mood
from elation to blue

the streets disappeared
beneath the earth
giving rise to urban wasteland
man-made armies
evolving into superior thinkers
soon to problem solve
the world’s surrender


october two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
12 Sep 2013
15 Comments

If I die before I wake


never mind the world ends today
and you left so many
things undone

never mind the starving children
throughout the world
who could easily be fed
with a little capital
and alien ingenuity

never mind the excessive waste
you selfishly accumulated
and contributed
toward urban ski slopes
and 18 hole golf courses

as the world ends today
never mind racial bias
gender bias
religious bias
nationality bias
and any kind of intriguing international bias

never mind discrimination
and mistrust
especially of crooked governments
and wars unjust

never mind outspokenly peaceful men
becoming silenced as we speak
by programs perpetuated
by deceit and hatred
by programs advocating
five o’clock killings
for everyone to see

never mind all the work undone
before the world ends today
never mind how it must bother you
knowing the story
never changes


september two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged , , , , , , ,
02 Sep 2013
12 Comments

no way out of ebla


planes overhead
fly day and night
going on forever

kneeling with daughter
elbows on bed
one candle casts a light

equipped to the hilt
martyrs and saints
march into the desert

daughter falls asleep
dreams of war drums
advancing up the street

escape routes collapse
from the dead air
I take her hand and run


september two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , , ,
08 Aug 2013
5 Comments

Infantry


He was born with a suicide pack
strapped around his waist
not too far from where Jesus the prophet died
nor too far from where the once trendiest cafe in town
is now a basketball court

Through the age of seven he pleased Allah
by wearing the gift with pride
fully understanding his duty
was more powerful
than his circumcised phallus

As the eventual light self-destructed
into angelic chaos of heavenly proportions
he leapt into the next dimension
and into the arms
of seventy-two virgins


august two thousand thirteen
original version october two thousand seven
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , ,
01 Aug 2013
5 Comments

from the newsroom archives


born into a disconnected world
thousands of years back or forwards
angry young men
count using hands and feet
and algorithms buried
beneath the rubble

without warning there is no danger
there are only unexplained explosions
breathing new life
into a universe dying to attract
everything that is beautiful
inside a perfect circle


august two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , ,
28 Jul 2013
4 Comments

come here boy


the bichon is on to something
he knows better
about going outside
where the dangers have crept
from the country to the city
over a period of
less than a dog’s life

chester didn’t used to be this way
but the latest barrage
of borrowed artillery
has taken its toll on his fragility
has left him second guessing
every single move he’s made
since he was a baby


july two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in In the City, Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , ,
21 Apr 2013
15 Comments

locked inside pandora’s box


I hunker down in a hawkish grotto
where nobody can find my prize
where the light of day
seems a light year away
and hound dogs
are just a figment of my imagination

there is plenty of food for thought
and sweet nectar can be tapped
from these ancient walls
measuring ten stories tall
adorned with objects
painted on throughout the centuries

exiled into this self-imposed solitude
I am at peace with my new mission
guarding the evils
locked inside this silo
hoping and praying
the world lives beyond its darkest days





april two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , ,
07 Apr 2013

will you die for him


they shot the protester
because he did protest
yet at his publicized memorial
they celebrated his life
as a court jester

the queen became enraged
at the death of the jester
and she dispatched the royal
police to hunt down
the transparent killers

the transparent killers dissolved
into the adjoining kingdom
blending with the locals
by begging for change
on street corners

recharged with fresh dollars
more protesters perish
by organized zealots
rudimentarily disguised
as the new court jester



april two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, War Poems and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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