Bullies are angry
Bullies are mean
They gotta put you down
To empty their spleen
Bullies wanna conquer
Bullies divide
Spreading round the hurt
Cuz they’re broken inside
Bullies disarrange things
Bullies hurt your health
Every single bully feels
Sad for themself
by Richard W. Bray
‘Tis sweet to know that stocks will stand
When we with Daisies lie—
—Emily Dickinson, If I Should Die
Darker nights than ever
Hearts of shattered glass
Hefting laden caskets
Setting granite in the grass
They will come for all the bodies
Then they’ll come and take our homes
The machine keeps right on turning
And grinding up the bones
When disaster makes you richer
What could ever make you whole?
Is it just the love of Mammon?
Or the absence of a soul?
They will come for all the bodies
Then they’ll come and take our homes
The machine keeps right on turning
And grinding up the bones
by Richard W. Bray
a movie in the afternoon
with you
a walk, a talk, a Gershwin tune
with you
in a cabin in the hills
with you
in a field of daffodils
with you
snuggle on the coldest night
with you
feeling safe and holding tight
with you
everything is warm and true
with you
in a universe of two
with you
by Richard W. Bray
How’d you make the world
Collapse and disappear?
How’d you make your voice
The only thing I hear?
How’d you take my troubles
And tear them all apart?
How’d you know the song
In my heart?
How’d you know the song
In my heart?
How’d you patch me up
And nurse me back to health?
How’d you create a world
Where time was someplace else?
How’d you erase the past
And make a whole new start?
How’d you know the song
In my heart?
How’d you know the song
In my heart?
by Richard W. Bray
broken lives
and broken hearts and
foolish empty pledges
I’m rugged and I’m ragged
and sharp around
the edges
Don’t get too close
I’m booby-trapped
Broke from eating
Too much crap
There’s so much shit
When I explode
It’s gonna be
The motherload
all the lies
you swallow, they
never get digested
every segment
of your soul
will become infested
Don’t get too close
I’m booby-trapped
Broke from eating
Too much crap
There’s so much shit
When I explode
It’s gonna be
The motherload
by Richard W. Bray
all day long
I think of you
subsisting on
your residue
too good to be true
too good to be true
too good to be true
warmth and style
and royal blue
all wrapped up
inside of you
too good to be true
too good to be true
too good to be true
your hair, your smile
your ballyhoo
I would pay
to be your shoe
too good to be true
too good to be true
too good to be true
sophistication
through and through
you’ll never play
the ingénue
too good to be true
too good to be true
too good to be true
I live for love
I never knew
the psycho ward
is overdue
too good to be true
too good to be true
too good to be true
by Richard W. Bray
I got a friend named Looney Tick
He chewed all day and ate a brick
Washed it down with motor oil
He drinks it fresh before it spoils
I don’t believe in superstition
Minerals are good nutrition
I got a friend named Looney Tick
You never know what clothes he’ll pick
He’s decked out in all his splendor
Cargo shorts and red suspenders
I’m a walking fashion plate
How them haters love to hate
I got a friend named Looney Tick
Sanity is not his schtick
He cleans his table with a mop
He stole a car and called the cops
I don’t need no evidence
I’ll just use my common sense
I had a friend named Looney Tick
He fought a grizzly with a stick
His daddy told him that ain’t wise
But he believed his lying eyes
That bear is big but I’m real quick
Never mess with Looney Tick
That bear is big but I’m real quick…
The last we heard from Looney Tick
by Richard W. Bray
the city’s gonna kill me
if I don’t let it go
time to find a valley
where the living is slow
maples in September
mountains in the snow
the bend in the river
where the cottonwoods grow
deliver me from humbug
the never-ending show
time for some authentic
dirt beneath my toes
maples in September
mountains in the snow
the bend in the river
where the cottonwoods grow
time to grab my spirit
and hop upon a crow
that’s the only tonic
for my weary old soul
maples in September
mountains in the snow
the bend in the river
where the cottonwoods grow
by Richard W. Bray
I had no time to Hate—
Because The Grave would hinder Me—
And life was not so
Ample I
Could finish—Enmity
—Emily Dickinson
bullets bombs and mayhem
centuries of hate
liars on my tv
paid to complicate
swords into plowshares
anger into hope
we only got each other
and there’s nowhere else to go
the man behind the curtain
ain’t who we elect
greedy getting richer
so many lives are wrecked
swords into plowshares
anger into hope
we only got each other
and there’s nowhere else to go
always question Power
resist the exploitation
don’t listen when they tell you
to hate another nation
swords into plowshares
anger into hope
we only got each other
and there’s nowhere else to go
by Richard W. Bray
To tease em, and thrill em, to torture and kill em,
Is her delight, they say
—Hard Hearted Hannah. Lyrics by Jack Yellen, Bob Bigelow, and Charles Bates
never said
i was nice
you got some sugar
with your spice
now it’s time
to run along
here’s a dime
to call your mom
never said
i was nice
love isn’t always
paradise
thank your stars
you got to be
with someone
as cool as me
never said
i was nice
please don’t make
me tell you twice
it shouldn’t be hard
to find the door
you don’t amuse
me anymore
by Richard W. Bray
