Escape hatch
In the portals of my mind
Hiding with the lies
That take up all my time
Escape hatch
Nowhere else to go
Putting on a mask
Putting on a show
Escape hatch
Can't avoid my brain
The truth is in the task
The truth is in the pain
Escape hatch
Time to shut the door
Time to cut the con
I don't need it anymore
by Richard W. Bray
laughing girls
and romping boys
a thousand lovely
aching joys
spots of time
the spirit captures
mundane moments
dizzy raptures
drink all this
the blessèd mood
little things
felt and viewed
By Richard W. Bray
I thought my brain was cured
But then you hurt me with your words
Like so many sticks and stones
I think your words can break my bones
When I hear your nasty sounds
Everything comes crashing down
People tell me I’m absurd
They really hurt me with their words
I’m traveling with a happy herd
Don’t try and hurt me with your words
I'm gonna burst just like a bubble
You’re gonna be in so much trouble
You’re such a silly stupid turd
You wanna hurt me with your words
Somebody needs to pass a law
To protect me from it all
By Richard W. Bray
He became a Marine on September 12th
Giving up status and material wealth
So many nightmares dancing in his skull
Davey lost it all to fentanyl
20 years of fighting in a foreign land
for a country that never even gave a damn
living with the hurt that never goes away
another buddy killed himself yesterday
Finding your friends in a gutted Humvee
Totally dismantled by an IED
Tommy still alive with half his brains gone
Muttering gibberish and asking for his mom
20 years of fighting in a foreign land
for a country that never even gave a damn
living with the hurt that never goes away
another buddy killed himself yesterday
Oscar in his living room, kids at play
Surrounded by love on a beautiful day
Don't make no sense when the demons get their way
He ran off in his truck and blew himself away
20 years of fighting in a foreign land
for a country that never even gave a damn
living with the hurt that never goes away
another buddy killed himself yesterday
another buddy killed himself yesterday
another buddy killed himself yesterday
another buddy killed himself yesterday
by Richard W. Bray
Beware the Wooky Wabble
In the Torple Tapple Tree
He vexonted Carroll Lewis
And he almost blurbled me
Beware the Wooky Wabble
Deceptive in its art
He looks just like a nuknak
But he’s wipple wapple smart
Beware the Wooky Wabble
With his chriomatic forge
He swings a brutesome blade
Lacerating Gordon George
Beware the Wooky Wabble
He sporpled Miss D.H.
She keeps on writing books
But they’re only one page
Beware the Wooky Wabble
He bedeviled Milton John
He behemothed Shelley Percy
Till the raspity of dawn
by Richard W. Bray
Public Relations
Give yourself a prize
Dancing like scarecrow
Who believes its own lies
Public Relations
The opposite of health
You’re not into truth
You’re into yourself
Public Relations
The perfect façade
A rumor of existence
A mountain of sod
Public Relations
Who would suspect?
You gotta be real
If you wanna connect
by Richard W. Bray
Shooting star across the sky
Oh my God, we’re gonna die
I never want to walk around
There’s a chance I might fall down
Live a life of melodrama
Stay inside and call your mama
If that girl won’t go out with me
I’ll live a life of misery
If I’m not getting perfects marks
I’ll be sleeping in the park
When every hill’s a mountaintop
The agony will never stop
I got a pain inside my head
Pretty soon I will be dead
Every surface must be scoured
I boil my food for several hours
Breathe and think and slow your hurry
You don’t need to feed your worry
by Richard W. Bray
A look, a snub, a slander
Says you’re not enough
A heap of indignation
A morsel of love
Silent disappointment
A rolling of the eyes
To never miss a moment
To cut you down to size
The sadness of a soul
Who gives to take away
A sigh that’s filled with scorn
A heart made out of clay
by Richard W. Bray
Every inch of you is perfect
—Meghan Trainor and Kevin Kadish
Your naughty naughty body
And your dirty dirty mind
Got my head aspinning
And I think I’m going blind
So kinetic and so crazy
How you keep a body warm
Cover me and praise me
And shelter me with storm
Your naughty naughty body
And your dirty dirty mind
Absolute perfection
From your head to your behind
So kinetic and so crazy
How you keep a body warm
Cover me and praise me
And shelter me with storm
Your naughty naughty body
And your dirty dirty mind
You’re a sinner — you’re a saint
You’re one of a kind
So kinetic and so crazy
How you keep a body warm
Cover me and praise me
And shelter me with storm
By Richard W. Bray
It’s pretty easy to tell when someone is lying to themself.* But you can never know another person’s truth. And discovering your own truth is an enormous task.
The truth that looks you in the eye
“No reason why this has to hurt”
Tell yourself another lie
Compare yourself to other guys
“My loser friends are so inert”
The truth that looks you in the eye
Bewildered every time you cry
“I’m self-aware – I’m so alert”
Tell yourself another lie
Jump off a bridge – expect to fly
“Only fools return to dirt?”
The truth that looks you in the eye
Deception is your alibi
“I’m guiltless, honest and overt”
Tell yourself another lie
Dismiss your actions with a sigh
“I never aimed to disconcert”
The truth that looks you in the eye
Tell yourself another lie
by Richard W. Bray
*For example, when someone says I don’t care, it usually means they care a lot.
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