
Hyenas hustle
Curtains rustle
Candles flicker
Spirits snicker
What's that
Frazzlepat?
Jiggling bed's
Just in my head
Somewhere
Over the cuckoo's nest
I shut my eyes
But there isn't any rest
by Richard W. Bray

Got a new snork vorple
It's really kuper-kippy
It keeps me wipple-wapple
When the wunk is wappy-wippy
I don't like your gornpop
You're such a norky noobler
The mips are full of zanzi-plips
Don't jim-jomp on the goobler
When I was young, we porpled
We confoobled for a song
But now the nukstips borbalize
And snirkbob all day long
Don't call me a fubble flooper
Just cuz I'm purpipsy
The dinder dob is nabby dab
Someday you'll bloop the blipsy
by Richard W. Bray

All the times that I've cried
Keeping everything I knew inside
It's hard
But it's harder to ignore it
–Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam)
greed and war and vanity
liars on tv
crooks and phonies
creeps and fools
try and influence me
endless brutality
things i cant unsee
i just need some room to breathe
some space
to be me
cant they hear our cries?
do they know how to feel?
stop the taking
stop the killing
and let the people heal
by Richard W. Bray

When truth melts your delusions
Like a pair of wax wings
Tumbling through your head
Go a thousand random things
Daily fabrications
Avoiding with a sigh
Things that you might notice
When you walk instead of fly
Peering down from clouds
Such a curious location
What one mistakes for clarity
Could be dissociation
by Richard W. Bray

There were always babies at the bus station and they were always crying. And these were not mild complaints. I couldnt understand how the least discomfort could take the form of agony. No other creature was so sensitive. The more I thought about it the clearer it became to me that what I was hearing was rage…
The rage of children seemed inexplicable other than as a breach of some deep and innate covenant having to do with how the world should be and wasnt. I understood that their raw exposure to the world was the world.
You dont think this is all a bit fanciful?
I do think.
How would a child know how the world should be?
A child would have to be born so. A sense of justice is common to the world. All mammals certainly. A dog knows perfectly well what is fair and what is not. He didnt learn it. He came with it.
—from Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy
You're gonna wonder why
As you wander on your way
The unfairness of the world
Will make a body rage
Don't be scared of words
Watch out for stones and sticks
You won't get blown away
When you build your thoughts with bricks
Perpetual injustice
Is an insult to the soul
Evil is eternal
Resistance makes us whole
A thousand paths before us
So many ways to live
It's a wicked wicked world
When we forget how to forgive
by Richard W. Bray

The fish wasn't fresh The server was late The "hand squeezed juice" Was frozen concentrate The peas were canned It was domestic cheese The Chardonnay was warm And they didn’t let it breathe I’m such a good person. Can’t you see? The world depends on people like me To maintain decorum and decency The movie was dreadful The plot was stale The acting was wooden An absolute fail The mountains were awful The snow was cold It smelled like pine The rocks were old I’m such a good person. Can’t you see? The world depends on people like me To maintain decorum and decency The novel was stuffy A disgrace to the arts The story was filled With boring parts What a hideous house And don't call me a hater Somebody oughta kill The decorator I’m such a good person. Can’t you see? The world depends on people like me To maintain decorum and decency by Richard W. Bray

Dance, dance, for the figure is easy,
The tune is catching and will not stop;
Dance till the stars come down from the rafters;
Dance, dance, dance till you drop.
–W. H. Auden, Death’s Echo
Laughing in the face of evil What else can you do? Hold on real tight To what’s good and close and true You can only forgive What was done to you Everything else Is left to You Know Who The mind makes hell from heaven It makes heaven out of hell Own the space inside your head And keep yourself well A lot of things will happen You don't always have to tell Live your own story It's not a thing to sell Wish everyone the best Play your own part And dance every moment To the song in your heart by Richard W. Bray