Archive for April, 2015

You Can’t Collect Abstractions

April 26, 2015

You can’t send a box of sunshine
You can’t buy a pound of poise
You can’t purchase piles of pleasure
For deserving girls and boys

You can’t load a truck with love
You can’t take a piece of peace
You can’t give a ton of trust
To your nephew or your niece

You can’t hold a heap of hope
You can’t grab a jar of joy
You can’t harness all the happy
That your family might enjoy

You can’t find a font of freedom
You can’t choose a can of cheer
You can’t collect abstractions
But they exist when they are here

by Richard W. Bray

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Posted in Poetry, Poetry for Kids | Leave a Comment »

Dippy Dippy Dappy

April 21, 2015

You said that
I was boney
You can’t ride
My pony

You said I
Was a fool
Don’t swim
In my pool

Neener Neener Neener Neener
Neener Neener New
You weren’t nice to me
I won’t be friends with you

You said that
I’m unstable
Don’t come sit
At my table

You said that
I look funny
You can’t
Pet my bunny

Neener Neener Neener Neener
Neener Neener New
You weren’t nice to me
I won’t be friends with you

Maybe I
Should try again
Do you wanna
Be my friend?

Dippy Dippy Dippy Dippy
Dippy Dippy Dappy
Give someone another chance
And you will be more happy

by Richard W. Bray

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Don’t Beat Yourself Up

April 18, 2015

Life’ll wallop your desire
Life’ll sock you in the eye
Life’ll set your guts on fire
Life’ll make you wanna cry

Don’t beat yourself up
Don’t put yourself down
Just keep your head up
And try and stay above ground

Life’ll pulverize your wishin
Life’ll shatter your heart
Life’ll tackle your ambition
Life’ll tear your world apart

Don’t beat yourself up
Don’t put yourself down
Just keep your head up
And try and stay above ground

Life’ll crumble your dreams
Life’ll brutalize your soul
Life’ll make you wanna scream
Life’ll detonate your goals

Don’t beat yourself up
Don’t put yourself down
Just keep your head up
And try and stay above ground

by Richard W. Bray

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Posted in If it sounds country, Lyrics | Leave a Comment »

Skweeples

April 15, 2015

Skweeples aren’t people
Their foreheads are blue
They eat with their noses
And talk with them, too

Skweeples aren’t people
They laugh with their ears
They sleep upside down
And cry purple tears

Skweeples aren’t people
Their bodies are green
They play in the swamp
And they hate to be clean

Skweeples aren’t people
They live in old cars
They drink stagnant water
And eat lice and tar

Skweeples aren’t people
But they love each other
On Saturday night
They all call their mother

People aren’t skweeples
That’s easy to see
I don’t bother them
And they don’t bother me

Skweeples are skweeples
They do what they do
They belong in the open
Not locked in a zoo

by Richard W. Bray

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Posted in Poetry, Poetry for Kids | Leave a Comment »

There Are No Little People

April 8, 2015

Why swagger, then?
The Gnat’s supremacy is large as Thine —

—Emily Dickinson


I’m an influential person
I’ve got important things to do
I have a giant office
And I don’t have time for you

I’m an influential person
I am big and you are small
I have a slew of little people
Waiting at my beck and call

I’m an influential person
People do the things I say
If you aren’t here to serve me
Then please just go away

Pardon my existence
I don’t mean to waste your time
I’m here to serve some papers
You’ve been accused of heinous crime

Some of your endowments
Are certainly excessive
But your wisdom and compassion
Are not at all impressive

It’s a silly, silly man
Who does not realize
There are no little people
And souls don’t have a size

by Richard W. Bray

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Posted in Emily Dickinson, Poetry, Poetry for Kids | Leave a Comment »

Don’t Wanna Tell Nobody What to Do

April 4, 2015


Figuring out just who
I wanna be
Is a burden
On my sensibility

I try to take
Responsibility
For how my deeds
Affect society

But every move
A person ever makes
Ripples like a stone
Dropped in a lake

So please don’t ask me
What you oughta do
It’s exhausting and it’s
Time-consuming too

Don’t wanna tell nobody
What to do
I’ll just be me and
You can just be you

by Richard W. Bray

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