Graffiti

J Matthew Waters

There’s a wall without slashes of social unrest,
without lines of prejudice, modesty or complaints
not even a good thought
clean and quick to the point
might make others laugh, angry or uneasy.

It makes me uneasy to see such a wall
anywhere within a public stall
upon a school desk or through walk tunnels.
To see such a wall of inhibition
of emptiness
of conservative thinking
like not sharing thoughts, ideas or secrets
makes me wonder
when the liberators will return
to save the free walls in this free land
from backwardness
from idleness
of single bawdy colors covering progress.

Dove on Western Wall
Temple Mount, Jerusalem
©2006 Michael Dickel

Horseless Chariot

J Matthew Waters

Bring me back pictures
from Paris
or better yet email them
as you take them
with your lovely friends
who really aren’t your friends
but hired sycophants
who follow you
all over the world
Bring me flowers
from foreign lands
prove to me that you still love me
and want me around
even though
you left me here
daydreaming
in my horseless chariot
wondering where you are

Inside the Eiffel Tower
Elevator wheel
Photo ©2005 Michael Dickel

Springtime in Russia

J Matthew Waters

The six-month winter miraculously
segues into a psychedelic fever
of blossoming apple trees
and awakening white birches
as white-fronted geese
flock along an endless sky
painted robin’s-egg blue.

Outside the city garden plots
become reacquainted
with agrarian hands skilled
from generation’s past
furiously planting and artfully
nurturing all that is necessary
to survive the next winter.

Almond blossoms
©2017 Michael Dickel

J Matthew Waters was born on November 13, 1961 in Rock Island, Illinois, and grew up across the Mississippi in Davenport, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Iowa In 1984 with a B.A. in English. A resident of Cedar Rapids, Iowa since 1993, he is employed in the financial services industry. 

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Poems ©2017 J Matthew Waters