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 cannot cry at night anymore –
lost the well to draw on my tears
Yet, my Strepsil-red eyes are a giveaway –
sucky relief until the crunch of dawn
Sleep is a seasonal hibernation –
the unbearable in need of a mental masseur
‘You need a shrink, not a spouse’
is a cliche to rub it in – and rub me out
Erasure is a guilty pleasure for all this pain –
I return to it again and again and again
An unreasonable moth indulging in flames –
this crime without witness, this life
without forgiveness
First published in “Words on the Wire 3” Anthology 2026 of the Chapter One writers group, edited by Sue Hill and Bob Walton, Britain.
