Here's a good review in Rapid City Journal
that I was interviewed for
Shedding Skins Review in RCJ

Just want to say a quick thank you
to all who read my blog
this blog was started in january of 2004
and it's been up for five years now
thanks for the support

sincerely,

Joel A. Waters

A Repercussion Of Thor

it was thought that had fooled you
thought that had taken me away
from you
perhaps we had fooled each other
in thinking of something better
it is too late to know now
maybe we were casualties
of our forefathers
and their shady dealings
The Nordic have vastly
clashed with my kind
in the lands we inhabit
it must've been enticingly familiar
this cold climate
as brutal and red knuckled
as the sounds of migraine metal
clanking on metal
as many staked on through
with railroads
slashing across this land
like scars that would never heal
like dreams that will never be real
you used to trace my scar
little fingers, little engines
chuffing off
but we never got very far
we left bits here and there
like box cars
and charcoal hearts
waited to turn diamond
i never cared
to call myself a real man
and you built on nothing
with a hammer in hand

all these things
they struck me to the core
it was just one repercussion
one drop in a storm

stuck

i sit in this world
fat and complacent
like an Olmec head
i play i ching
with the lines in my hands
but they all point
to the same tireless outcome
if poppa was a rollingstone
---mother was quicksand
and we were all up to
our shoulders in this mess
we skipped
like pebbles when thrown
only skimming the top
of the surface
once i turned to mt rushmore
for my answers
but their granite lips
only whispered
the tragedy of paha sapa
which loomed behind them
like a body
---post mortem
sometimes we look
for a monolith
something bigger than us
that will send us
shivering in its shadow
a fear that'll put us in our place
we heal on stonehenge
kneel in front of buddha statues
but even pyramids have never
been pure or true
i feel like an easter island head
staring out
towards the deep
feeling the calm
of the ocean air
but never really getting anywhere

rhinoceros

with knife in hand
she rushed forward
like a rhinoceros
there was no stopping
that night
anymore than there are words
to describe
what had unfolded
it tore through
the very delicate fabric
of our young minds
but now i somewhat understand
why she ran
fullforce in her blackout
doing her best to stomp
out the fire
that raged
inside of her
and when all the little ones
were born
she kept our imprints
inked foots stamped onto white paper
evidence i suppose
--proof that she was there

THE PHOENIX BURNS OUT

why not shut my eyes up on me
god of gates and doors?
with a stinging wince
i cannot bear witness
to my life anymore
---to any true meaning
i have shut down
at thirty
but am somewhere past fifty
now it seems i can't
even have a simple rage
the pheonix flew
but walked back to the cage
my mind falls like feathers
i pop a pill
---one good idea,
perhaps two
manages to permeate
through the gilded lids
"not good enough"
some demigods say
wants more purity
wants the removal of foreskin
even the oracle lies to me
---says just a little more suffering
and you'll be pure prophesy
the furies
the minotaurs
continue to bullshit on
courting the debutantes
who have all dyed their hair blonde
meanwhile Medusa
spits out bad poetry
i see the weight
on atlas's corroded palms
and so i lie
down
with my makeshift
laurel-leaf crown
i have overpleaded
to many gods
amongst the ashtray altars
been reborn in the
beer-drenched waters
and Venus with her clammy hands
was a sugarcoating bitch
i could not bear to stand
Not even Janus could
give me a new beginning
so when he turned away
---it was even more
insulting

RIPE

I used to love to go fishing
How right it seemed
Catching things
Only to throw them back
To their familiar site
I myself
Never quite got back
It was a mudsucking thing
As someone darkened
The sunfish
Ripped the goldfish
To as black as your heart was
I left scales behind
Evidence of a crime
Many times it was hushed
Tucked away neatly
In the riverbed
I watched many men
Gut mermaids
And I choked down my own
Salty pearls
But that never stopped you
From reaching in
And I got used
To the torn out hooks
Sometimes I’m still laying
There
Flopping there
Gasping for air
And it is only years later
When I have finally
Dragged myself
Up onto the shore
Old and wrinkled
Like some used up whore
---I can finally enjoy
The rotting inside
Coveting
the lord of the flies
And now
That I am finally ripe
This statutory world
leaves me behind
Like some kind of
dark forgotten crime

DOG DAYS

The days here do not move
they drag on
like a dog pulling its dead legs
and there is simply
nowhere to get to
they just fester and blister
in the fullblown sun
snapping at me
like a wild thing
it's hot sour breath
melts me to sinewy meat
I am overwhelmed
by the manginess
of my poverty
an itch that cannot be scratched
a past that cannot be passed

I long for the days
when my eyes stared glossy
---a simple dull
like a puppies
even the moon picks on me
it's sickly yellow eyes
are daunting
the damn rays from its bald face
weigh on me
like porcupine quills
on a dog's snout
and there is no one around
to pull them out