All you coastal elites…

February 7, 2025 


You got your PhDs
And your fancy degrees
Think you can tell me who to judge
I'm bored with your permission structures
And your values clusters
Cuz I don't need a nudge

All you coastal elites
Can suck my dirty old feet

I'm just a plain and simple man
But I still understand
When I'm being bought and sold
Take your algorithms
Take your marketing decisions
And just shove em down a hole 

All you coastal elites
Can suck my dirty old feet

All you coastal elites
Can suck my dirty old feet

by Richard W. Bray

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

Dance because you’re not a dancer

January 25, 2025 


I only have one thing to say
What are you gonna do today?

It's not a quiz
There's no wrong answer
Dance because you're not a dancer

Cook some eggs
Take a shower
Photograph the Eiffel Tower

Find a game
You like to play
Lollygag your time away

Have a beverage
With a friend
Read a novel to the end

Walk your dog
Smell some flowers
Sit around and talk for hours

Meet a deadline
With your team
Binge a show about a queen

Wax a roadster
Hike the hills
Debate the merits of free will

It's not about what others do 
Do the thing that's right for you

by Richard W. Bray

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

A notion and a daydream

January 17, 2025 

The world is a river
It sings to me in rhyme
Tiny specks of matter
Straddle space and time

The rhythm of the ocean
Berries on the vine
The universe in motion
Your body talks to mine

Vagrant spirits jingle
Clad in sundry hue
Everything that ever was
Lives inside of you

The rhythm of the ocean
Berries on the vine
The universe in motion
Your body talks to mine

A smile and a sunbeam
A moment and a prayer
A notion and a daydream
Your love is everywhere

The rhythm of the ocean
Berries on the vine
The universe in motion
Your body talks to mine

by Richard W. Bray

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

Crazy has its price to pay

January 8, 2025 


History hurts and hunger haunts
Crazy is the right response
To bombs and guns and poverty
And men who trade in misery

Crazy has its price to pay
And it don't push the pain away

Photographs are flat and wrong
Profiles sing an empty song
Crazy has its price to pay
And it don't push the pain away

Wind and raindrops sun and snow
Watch the weather come and go
Fiddledum and fiddledee
I like the way you look at me

by Richard W. Bray

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

Honesty Is My Policy

January 1, 2025 

I told Candace Walter's cheating
I told Megan she was fat
I said Gail's looks are fleeting
And that's such an ugly hat

I told Dan his son's a loser
And his wife is scarfing pills
I told Frankie he's a boozer
They should pay me for my skills

I told Ted his breath is frightful
It could make an angel cry
The truth is so delightful
I'm a great and fearless guy

I'm tenacious and observant
I refuse to pull my punches
I'm a real public servant
They should honor me at lunches

I'm a paladin of virtue
In a world of falsity
If reality can hurt you
You're a fool for blaming me 

by Richard W. Bray

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Posted in Poetry | Leave a Comment »

faithless, selfish and cruel

December 27, 2024 


A phantom and a promise
A kiss, a smile, a lie
Back when our love
Was alive enough to die

You ghosted me for days 
You haunted me for years
You don't have any right
To ask about my tears

Now suddenly you emerge
From the shadows of deceit
Asking about my loved ones
And sounding so sweet

You ghosted me for days
You haunted me for years
You don't have any right
To ask about my tears

Seeking greener pastures
When it's time for you to roll
You leave behind a wasteland
For the famine in your soul

You ghosted me for days
You haunted me for years
You don't have any right
To ask about my tears

by Richard W. Bray

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

Bullets in the Back

December 24, 2024 

But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
–John Lennon

When the long knives come out
And the landscape turns to Hell
There won't be any omelets
Just a pile of eggshells

Bombs in Iraq,
Bullets in the back,
And crazy Comrade Lenin
Knows who to attack

Summary execution
Is that how you cope?
When every kook starts shooting
It's a slippery slope

Bombs in Iraq,
Bullets in the back,
And crazy Comrade Lenin
Knows who to attack

If you found a messiah
Who tells you who to kill
You're mistaking mental illness
For that phony red pill

Bombs in Iraq,
Bullets in the back,
And crazy Comrade Lenin
Knows who to attack

by Richard W. Bray

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

There Ain’t No People Like Me

December 19, 2024 

Sometimes I like to wear shoes
But I never watch the news
That stupid guy on the tv
Don't give a crap about me

You can sneak and you can snoop
But don't you put me in a group

I do things the way I please
I like my burgers with some cheese
I like the rivers and the trees
And I appreciate them bees

You can sneak and you can snoop
But don't you put me in a group

That big machine is taking notes
All my preferences and votes
Every letter that I wrote
And all the writers I can quote

You can sneak and you can snoop
But don't you put me in a group

I ain't no standard deviation
You can scour the population
You won't find no correlation
Cuz I'm a walking aberration

You can sneak and you can snoop
But don't you put me in a group

by Richard W. Bray

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

Losers Gonna Loser

December 7, 2024 

Ticky tacky talk
They sneak and stalk
And lie and mock
And put you in a box

They take you down 
And break you down
They're never leaving
This old town

Avoid abusers and accusers 
Losers gonna loser
I'm not a beggar
I'm a chooser

They take you down
And break you down
They're never leaving
This old town

They'll never let you be
But they can't shackle me
They're just a memory
I'm happy flying free

They take you down
And break you down
They're never leaving 
This old town

by Richard W. Bray

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

Choice Virtues

December 4, 2024 


Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,
Or English poets who grew up on Greek
-Theodore Roethke 

What is beauty?
What is love?
What is color?
What is art?

What is laughter?
What is sunshine?
What is rustling
In my heart?

What is real?
What is romance?
What is magic?
What is true?

What are raindrops?
What are roses?
What are puppies?
What are you?

What is light?
What is time?
What is space?
What's a star?

What makes
The heavens sing
Everywhere 
You are? 

by Richard W. Bray


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Posted in If it sounds country, love songs, Lyrics, Theodore Roethke | Leave a Comment »

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