Introducing a new series of poems by Julian Matthews. Julian is a writer and Pushcart-nominated poet published in The American Journal of Poetry, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Borderless Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Dream Catcher Magazine, Live Encounters Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and The New Verse News, among others. He is a mixed-race minority from Malaysia and lived in Ipoh for seven years. Currently based in Petaling Jaya, he is a media trainer and consultant for senior management of multinationals on Effective Media Relations, Social Media and Crisis Communications. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and Nikkei Business Publications Inc
Link: https://linktr.ee/julianmatthews
By Julian Matthews
I imagine myself reversing time
With foreknowledge, the bullets empty
from your limp body and re-enter the barrel
The blood dissipates from the snow
I stand between you and them
I distract you, persuade you to move
You hesitate but my voice is hypnotic
You turn away to leave
All is safe
I am the avenger, the dispeller of spells
I swallow the thorns from the sides of men
I eat the hurt from hurt people who hurt people
I suck the marrow from the men who are quick to lose it
From weak-men who say, F__king b___h!
From hard men who pour oil on fire, and burn
from the flames inside them
From child-men whose hate seethes like a viper’s breath
But I am no god
I can’t change any of this
I can only rewind and watch the videos over and over
and with each viewing my stomach twists in more knots
How can humans be so inhumane? Where is Empathy?
How do we return to the path as pilgrims who can feel
the stone in each other’s shoes?
How does my breath blow life back into your lungs
and yours into mine?
How do we feel the blood flow in each other’s veins?
How do our hearts beat in sync like the unborn child
in a mother’s womb?
I reverse time
I make angels in the snow
I melt ice in my mouth
I blow away the cold
so you can feel safe again
I want to reverse time
I want you here and now – warm and alive
I want these words to unwrite themselves–
like it never happened
like it all never happened
First published in Chewers by Masticadores, USA
