Tag Archives: Matthew Roth poetry

Fear is not a finish line… Friday Oct. 3, 2014 / KCK #SchwervonPoetry

Turn off the blue light
Take my hand
Walk into the darkness with me.
I know you are afraid
Fear is not a finish line
It is a starting point
Fear is a question
We need it like we need salt and water
The stale air of anger will choke like the poison gas of war
Anger thrives in the trenches
It feeds the meat grinder
Gives birth to bomb craters no mans lands
There is no waiting for the world to end
There is no limit to the squares on the paper towl roll
Life is a paper towl.
We roll
We tear
We soak it in.
We do a job and we recycle.
We’re not made to support enormous amounts of weight.
Our job is not to absorb blue food colored liquid.
We are here to clean up the mess.
No certificate needed
We are the certificate
We are the inkwells tattooing our bones into the earth and trees
Like heavy rain in a desert
We are here to make an impression and then smooth it over on a sunny day
Let’s stop treating ourselves like the objects that we think are only objects.
Let’s live the moments like we remember the good parts about the past.
It doesn’t matter if it was all a dream.
Live the dream now.

(This poem was originally recited at the Broken Teeth CD Release show at FOKL Art Space on October 3, 2014 in Kansas City, KS)

Don’t Waste Your Love…Friday Sept. 20, 2014, Lawrence, KS #SchwervonPoetry

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Don’t waste your love
Give it to me
Let’s rub it all over our backsides
Like lye soap
Let’s flavor it with lavender
And mint
Rainwater
Chocolate
Let’s find love in the most peculiar places
Sandpaper
Wheat
The skin if a humming birds beak
The soft snore of a woman
Heavy metal makeup
Live music
And pictures of arms
And elbows
And feet
Sometimes starting is the hardest part
Fear is a monster with bottomless
Appetites
Like a mouth full of cotton candy he will devour lives
And toss the empty bag on the sidewalk
Ich esse eine Apfel.
Ich esse eine Orange.
Ich esse ein Lieben.
Das ist gut!
Eat your Life
Eat it every day.
Devour it like a termite.
Like a starving person at an all u can eat buffet.
Not just a like starving ’cause you haven’t eaten since breakfast kind of starving.
A starving for life.
A Hungar for life. Like you need it every day, like air to live.
Eat it. Just eat it.
Umpf.

(This poem was originally recited at the I Heart Local Music Showcase at The Replay Lounge on September 20, 2014 in Lawrence, KS)

I Love You Like…Wednesday Sept. 17, 2014 KC, MO #SchwervonPoetry

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photo by Rachel Sky

I love you
Like a silver dollar
Like a neck tattoo
Like a Pitbull rescue squad
Where I’m the Pitbull and you are the squad
It’s that time of year
When pumpkin guts spatter across newspaper
And tall buildings look more ominous and vulnerable
The early cool season
Sometimes I forget how much I’ve learned from you
Sometimes I don’t treat you right
But you’re still here
And I’m so thankful for that
You are a ritual like brushing my teeth.
A routine that fulfills my life exponentially through time.
So many secrets we share.
But I want you to know that all of them are safe with me
Whatever you say…whoever knows them will not affect my love.
I don’t know how I can promise you this.
I just know that I can
Like a backyard dog in early winter regardless of when you let me in I will try to have a warm wiggling smile for you.

(This poem was recited live at the “Weirdo Wednesday: Kate & Sherman’s Wedding Event” at Davey’s Uptown on September 17, 2014 in Kansas City, MO)