A time there was – as one may guess
And as, indeed, earth’s testimonies tell –
Before the birth of consciousness,
When all went well.
—Thomas Hardy, Before Life and After
Existence is a wound
That heals when you die
We can’t extinguish hurt
We can only try
You won’t earn any points
For trying to be nice
The cosmos doesn’t care
What we do with life
Everything we ever do
Is gonna fade away
The thing that really matters
Is how we act today
by Richard W. Bray
A good athlete must have that harmony of movements or rhythm, which is called “form”….From pitch, to swing, to ball, a whole series of rhythms are set off, one rhythm, or one motion, starting another. So it is in life—from sun, to moon, to earth, to night, to day, to you getting up in the morning and going out to play a game of ball. All the rhythms of life are in some way related, one to another. You, your baseball, and the universe are brothers through rhythms.
—Langston Hughes, The First Book of Rhythm
Get in sync
And harmonize
Earth and moon
And sun and sky
All the rhythms
Are connected
Ain’t a body
Unaffected
Sun ashinin’
Earth aspinnin’
Live the motion
Breathe the rhythm
by Richard W. Bray
O heart! oh blood that freezes, blood that burns!
Earth’s returns
For whole centuries of folly, noise and sin!
Shut them in,
With their triumphs and their glories and the rest!
Love is best
—Robert Browing, Love Among the Ruins
What has posterity ever done for me?
—Groucho Marx
You did it
For the People
Is what you
Told yourself
You thought
You were
Bigger than
Everybody else
You ruled
You conquered
You told people
What to do
Now you’re just
As dead
As everyone
You knew
Time
Gurgles on
It’s gonna
Wash away
Everything
We ever do
And everything
We say
Existence
Is a gift
Will you squander
Your ration?
Or will you
Live your life
For love
And compassion?
by Richard W. Bray
existence
is a chain
the cost of flesh
is pain
live your hurt
don’t feed it
don’t take a knife
and bleed it
open up
and breathe
don’t grate yourself
like cheese
by Richard W. Bray
Feelings are the engine
That transport every notion
Thought is merely freight
Carried by emotion
No one is impartial
Ideas don’t live in air
Logic is an afterthought
You think because you care
Thoughts appear rational
But this is an illusion
We aspire after stars
In dust of confusion
by Richard W. Bray
You can pry
And you can peel
You can flay
You can reveal
Strip me naked
To my soul
Detach my parts
To get my whole
Unlock pieces
That are real
Why I do
And what I feel
But who can ever tell me why
Cannonball Adderley makes me cry?
by Richard W. Bray
Our absolutized aversion to dealing with any kind of tragedy imposed from without has truly dark applications. It is precisely this existential-dread level of ass-covering and risk-management that informs the American security state’s adoption of the drone “signature strike,” in which men and perhaps some bystanders near are killed by drone attack even if we have no idea who they are. Their “pattern of life” in Yemen is just deemed too risky for their existence to be endured by the American military. Fire away.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty
He tried to call his cousin
Now everybody’s dead
American murder bird
Flying overhead
Such a lovely wedding
Did you give your mom a hug
Before the murder bird
Squished you like a bug?
The pattern of your life
Gave us cause to worry
Dispatching murder birds
Who needs judge and jury?
Courageous first-responders
Are likely to get zapped
Ignore the murder bird
And feel its double tap
by Richard W. Bray
I’m glad you let me love you
I hope you let me see
All the things you wanna do
And what you wanna be
I’ll get down on hands and knees
I’ll dig your heart a moat
I’ll cover all your tender parts
Wear me like a coat
Tell me what you want to be
I’ll show you what I mean
I’ll protect your eager heart
And defend your thirsty dreams
Allow me to acknowledge
Everything I get from you
And trust me with the part of you
That’s delicate and true
by Richard W. Bray
I got a hungry blog
I try to keep it at bay
Feed Me, Feed Me, Feed Me
Feed Me every day
My blog don’t even care
If it’s a beautiful day
Feed Me, Feed Me, Feed Me
Feed Me every day
Like the flower from that movie
My blog just has to say
Feed Me, Feed Me, Feed Me
Feed Me every day
I tell my blog I gotta work
With all these bills to pay
Feed Me, Feed Me, Feed Me
Feed Me every day
I try to find a place to hide
I plead and plot and pray
Feed Me, Feed Me, Feed Me
Feed Me every day
It’s calling from inside my head
I’ll never get away
Feed Me, Feed Me, Feed Me
Feed Me every day
by Richard W. Bray
kindness knows no shame
—Stevie Wonder
Men are fierce and men are strong
I’m not here to get along
I shout and shove and get my way
People do the things I say
I’m not here to hold your hand
I’m proud to be an honest man
You won’t hear me apologize
Kindness is for gutless guys
I’m in charge; I make the rules
I’m not here to comfort fools
Do your job and don’t complain
I’m not here to ease your pain
I’m not here to be your friend
Love don’t matter in the end
Got no time for feeling sad
Cuz I’m a man just like my dad
by Richard W. Bray
