Show Do Tell: A Reading Series & Art Review

under control by Matt Waters

Well, it isn’t much to boast about Jump the fare Get choked out Our fine metropolis Can be… inelegant Harder to say Without being paid What they take out of me Monday through Friday The bureaucratic arm Can be negligent But one bat of your eyes And baby, I’m sold Out of the lie The teleprompter told Anyone can shout from a rooftop And pretend they are omniscient You keep me singing You keep me san...

Never lied to you Never told the truth Only ever suggested Never made it a job I was far too enthralled To make the connection With one wrinkled face Staring at my lonely place onstage As I hit the right inflection Between desperate and alone Delusional and in the zone Untaught living your lesson Dualistic identity Off-key and heavenly Frail body undressing Will you remember my name? Will your min...

Saw such lovely colors in your pictures

A touch of the tragic May be conducive to magic But it’s a rock in the shoe Of ordinary life Never wanted it to happen Our branch bent before snapping Saw reality as an anomaly As our little tree struggled in the strife Upon the polished bar-slab Rests an old head who can’t pay his tab While his pocket chimes, a music box The last gift from his wife Well, life may be short I may be numb My country...

Originally written in 2017, 'Usually' was inspired by a line in one of my unpublished novels. "I usually run," the character said, and this song seemed to blossom all-at-once from a simple consideration of what that line meant to that character. Ultimately the people we love are the people for which we eschew 'usually.'

Originally written in 2018, this is a song that makes me feel like a count in a castle. Partially inspired by classic American literature and the emptiness of solitary evenings.

The live debut of a more recently written track, 'Intruder.'

World War Pain My body at the break of dawn Always obeys the first alarm I do what I’m told these days Sometimes I feel I’ll give out The mask gets heavy and I could pass out Finally found a gig that pays Nobody’s involved or wants the job We can’t elect a new god While still hauling biblical names World War pain They teach us to be sane When I train my sights on you It’s me being free World War p...

It always starts with love Before the reality of hate Neon halo over your head Under the fire escape The night’s grown late And our ambition turned to mud The purity of your intention Ending with a sniffed-up drug And your mentor’s a slug Slurping the university She said you getting high’s empowering It sounded like an alibi to me No one is ever free But you can’t get that through your head Just l...

Another savage night Camouflaged in neon You could use a friend To lean on The stranger inside Is a white-veiled bride Sinking in the altar she’s standing on And the upside of numbness Is that your conscience Has become Teflon Van Ronk doesn’t live here anymore And the avant garde in the record store Philosophize about being reborn In a time more pure Once was, but nevermore Nevermore Chorus: The...

My newest tune.

Life in the empire /The sentries sing at sunrise/ Their Gods are deader / Than the sadness in their eyes / And I am tethered / To the awaited surprise / The turn in the narrative / The truth in the lies / Where all will make sense / Be at last contextualized / Alone in their own reality / Where no one may hide Life in the empire / Culture is an old bag / Accusing you of having / Things you never h...

Goodbye Forever Dream Please dream Your vivid dog dreams Chasing the prize Down the hill Securing a kill ‘Tween your teeth Days Cold days Alone under The burnt-out Sun Undying and unwilling to Stay We can walk eternal An endless jaunt together Find a new face of earth Its never gonna be Goodbye forever But you always knew There was a chance I wouldn’t make it Back to you Anguish where you lie Caus...

A life in a mirror Of someone’s design With a fleeting interest In my own mind New, improved rules Assimilated inside Genuflect and pray Before your mobile device There’s a new boss in town Polarized from the other guy Queens is quiet tonight I hate when bands make me wait For something I’ve already seen With survival less guaranteed It matters less what it all means Falling through the seasons Of...

Streetlight Oh streetlight Under starlight Guide me Home tonight Stranded On 1st Avenue And my only way to 8th Is on these old shoes Just passed Beth Israel I’m not convinced I’m completely miserable Bought your EP And there’s a tinfoil pizza In Queens awaiting me Third draft In too deep But when I get home The neighborhood’s asleep And who needs a life raft When you’ve got a good buoy? I can only...

A Moment or Two Upon your balcony You see me Tender evening’s intimacy Embodies mercy In a servant’s disguise you flee Into me These sad things Killed our passion with love A quelled candle in a sleeping tomb Where flies one lost dove For a moment or two Our warring families Write no treaties Caressing in summer’s heat Down our dark streets Lovers have privacy When the city sleeps These sad things...

Sunday Planes Sunday planes Flying low Through your hair Soft and slow We are alive Let’s take a ride Absurdity Sing to me There’s still an ambulance Waiting for me Beyond another Dreamt summer And should we part Without a goodbye Know you were more than enough For a reason why My faithful skeptic For the rest of it I’ll find the sweetness between Optimism and delirium In an empire on its knees No...

The Show Do Tell Reading Series made a one-day return at Governor’s Island for the New York City Poetry Festival. I’m definitely hoping to get the series going again in a more consistent format by 2022 (or before!). But until then this lovely summer day with three extremely talented readers and my amazing fiancé recording the reading will have to do. I could not have done a facsimile of our standa...

My Inner-life’s centered Like a good conspiracy My back was turned overlong Toward some memory Where I was who they wanted to be Faded photograph Wrapped in a robe outside The church I wrote these words Corporate daddy Told me their worth It was dignified work Contaminated future bats Taking selfies in a cave But drink up your idealism And think positive thoughts Today Cause someone will Pay Ridin...

The Show Do Tell Reading Series and Art review returns with an in-depth review of Bob Dylan's latest album 'Rough and Rowdy Ways.' Matt also sifts through his feelings about his nonexistent personal essay about life during the pandemic, the subliminal appeal of film noir and gangster movies, and the state of the New York Yankees, who resigned venerable outfielder Brett Gardner during this episode'...

My new album. ‘When The Saints’ was written during the pandemic. It imagines the inner-lives of citizens of a stopped culture, while also ruminating on the healing power of love. A note on the songs: New York Rain -- Reinvention is always a statement of power. But true identity is more complicated. We live in our contradictions -- the characters in this song may not be morally pristine -- but they...

My new album. ‘When The Saints’ was written during the pandemic. It imagines the inner-lives of citizens of a stopped culture, while also ruminating on the healing power of love. A note on the songs: New York Rain -- Reinvention is always a statement of power. But true identity is more complicated. We live in our contradictions -- the characters in this song may not be morally pristine -- but they...

My new album. ‘When The Saints’ was written during the pandemic. It imagines the inner-lives of citizens of a stopped culture, while also ruminating on the healing power of love. A note on the songs: New York Rain -- Reinvention is always a statement of power. But true identity is more complicated. We live in our contradictions -- the characters in this song may not be morally pristine -- but they...

My new album. ‘When The Saints’ was written during the pandemic. It imagines the inner-lives of citizens of a stopped culture, while also ruminating on the healing power of love. A note on the songs: New York Rain -- Reinvention is always a statement of power. But true identity is more complicated. We live in our contradictions -- the characters in this song may not be morally pristine -- but they...