Posts Tagged ‘Poetry’

Defy this Dreary Life

July 9, 2016

VVVVEarth

Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.
Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

Miles and miles of empty
Surround our lovely Earth
Human beings are blessed to share
The planet of our birth

We devastate and plunder
And treat it like a sewer
With rapacity to horrify
An interstellar viewer

We’re stupid and we’re greedy
And violent and cruel
Who came up with such a lot
Of self-destructive fools?

Everything that we create
Will decompose and rust
All of our accomplishments
Will tumble down to dust

Existence is a gift
Don’t misuse your ration
You must defy this dreary life
With kindness and compassion

by Richard W. Bray

not a sometimes thing

June 27, 2016

www116

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

I love you when you’re mean
I love you when you’re mad
I love you when you’re angry
I love you when you’re bad

Love is not a smorgasbord
For me to pick and choose
Always have to clean my plate
When I’m digesting you

I love you when you pout
I love you when you cry
I love you when you’re dirty
I’ll love you till I die

Love is not a sometimes thing
Love is not a switch
I love you as an angel
I love you as a bitch

by Richard W. Bray

Empathy

June 4, 2016

wwvaleriewolf

Suffering is not increased by numbers: one body can contain all the suffering the world can feel
Thomas Fowler

You can take an anvil
And drop it on my face
Feed me to the rodents
Till I’m gone without a trace

Tie me to an anthill
Drop me from the sky
Just don’t hurt the ones I love
Or make my baby cry

I know I can contain
The borders of my pain
A million shocks and aches
Won’t make me complain

Tie me to an anthill
Drop me from the sky
Just don’t hurt the ones I love
Or make my baby cry

Love gives it meaning
The hurt that we all feel
The pain we have for others
Makes existence real

Tie me to an anthill
Drop me from the sky
Just don’t hurt the ones I love
Or make my baby cry

by Richard W. Bray

Her Reply (Updated)

May 21, 2016

wwalter

Sir Walter Raleigh, The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd

If we lived in decades past
When marriages were built to last
I might be tempted to tilt your glass
And be your little lovely lass

When I was young my mother told me
That a man is good to hold me
But I must never bought and sold be
Thus no man has yet controlled me

She said a girl must make her way
In this crazy world today
And if I always let you pay
I’ll be tormented should you stray

I do not fit your portrait, sir
Neither rubies nor your fur
Will set my little heart astir
Or make my body coo and purr

You confirmed just what your heart meant
When you offered an apartment
And a closet full of garment
As though my life were some department

Of an edifice you dreamed
Without once consulting me
I can’t live your reality
I shan’t subsume identity

by Richard W. Bray

The impossible of us

May 13, 2016

wwimposibletostickacadillacinyournose

Everybody tells me
There is nothing I can do
The Improbable of love
The faraway of you

Removing my own heart
With a butter knife
The cruelty of love
The absurdity of life

Hope perched on a star
And dreams made out of dust
The ridiculous of love
The impossible of us

Blind to reality
That anyone could see
The temerity of love
The insanity of me

by Richard W. Bray

The Ringer

May 8, 2016

wwringer


The greater the love, the more false to its object

W.H. Auden, The Dead Echo

You said you liked me for a friend
And I was sure my life would end

I found a hole
To crawl inside
I starved my soul
But I survived

You said you liked me for a friend
And I was sure my life would end

I drank up a distillery
I puked up blood and bile
I crucified my crazy heart
Because I missed your smile

You said you liked me for a friend
And I was sure my life would end

I put my body through the ringer
I’m lucky I’m not dead
Playing out a melodrama
All inside my head

by Richard W. Bray

this craving for connection

May 5, 2016

wwwbloodv

It won’t end well:
This craving for connection

There always will be blood
When we seek affection

You’ll never cure your heart
It’s a terrible infection

Jealousy and tyranny
Resentment and rejection

The love I thought I saw
Was just my own reflection

Love is a barb
That cuts in all directions

by Richard W. Bray

Chronic Talkaholic

April 17, 2016

wwwtalkaholic

You state and speak
And yap and gab
You lecture and scold
And gossip and blab

You’re a chronic talkaholic
And every word you say
Is a futile attempt
To try and get away

You utter and spiel
And spout and spew
But you never come up
With anything new

You’re a chronic talkaholic
Every word you ever said
Is an effort to avoid
The crazy in your head

 

by Richard W. Bray

Coffee Coffee Joy Joy

April 16, 2016

wwwwcofeee

Rich and dark and lovely
I drink my coffee straight
Serve it hot and fresh
I don’t got time to wait

Coffee Coffee Joy Joy
I crave you every day
You never disappoint me
Don’t ever go away

Percolate or press it,
Or cook it drip by drip
Just fill my thirsty mug
I cherish every sip

Coffee Coffee Joy Joy
I crave you every day
You never disappoint me
Don’t ever go away

Intoxicants hurt my head
Or make the room spin round
Coffee is the only drug
That never lets me down

Coffee Coffee Joy Joy
I crave you every day
You never disappoint me
Don’t ever go away

Don’t need no fancy mocha
Don’t need no Frappuccino
A simple steaming cup of Jo
And I am good to go

Coffee Coffee Joy Joy
I crave you every day
You never disappoint me
Don’t ever go away

 

by Richard W. Bray

Teeter Totter

April 8, 2016

wwwwteeter

My daddy beat me every day
When other kids went out to play
My daddy taught me right from wrong
He made me pure; he made me strong

Wonderin’ what it’s all about
Turns my insides inside out
It hurts to look inside my head
I’d rather just hate you instead

My side’s right and yours is wrong
We’re good and great and pure and strong
You’re demonic; you are sick
Your words are just an evil trick

Wonderin’ what it’s all about
Turns my insides inside out
It hurts to look inside my head
I’d rather just hate you instead

I’ll never walk inside your shoes
We can’t win until you lose
Life’s a seesaw; I can’t twiddle
There is nothing in the middle

Wonderin’ what it’s all about
Turns my insides inside out
It hurts to look inside my head
I’d rather just hate you instead

by Richard W. Bray