A universe of traits
Lively and sedate
Butch and straight
Matron and girly
Smooth and curvy
Delicate and nervy
Nimble and bold
Young and old
Precious like gold
Fun and feral and silly and wise
In every shape and shade and size
You make the world a lovely place
In three point seven billion ways
by Richard W. Bray
Time was away and somewhere else
—Louis MacNeice, Meeting Point
Together in a room
With no one else around
We dance to a tune
That doesn’t make a sound
Where dreamers rhapsodize
Inside a cozy space
With my eyes locked in your eyes
We put the world in its place
by Richard W. Bray
And I wonder sometimes, what is it in me that hates me?
—Richard Wilbur, Complaint
What was I thinking?
Am I insane?
I wonder what happens
Inside my brain
Boss took me out
To announce my promotion
I puked on his shoes
And got a demotion
Whenever life hands me
The perfect shot
It ties up my tongue
In a perfect knot
She asked for my number
I was ready to score
Why did I tell her
She looks like a whore?
Whenever I’m offered
A True Romance
I flub all my lines
And ruin my chance
My mind is an iceberg
I just see the tip
I cannot control
What comes across my lips
by Richard W. Bray
I’ve got a long list of real good reasons
For all the things I’ve done
—Willie Nelson
Chores
I didn’t do the dishes
Cuz the water’s awful mucky
And it wrinkles up my digits
And it’s really rather yucky
I did not rake the yard
Cuz I didn’t wanna blister
If you need a beast of burden
You should get my little sister
I did not clean my room
Cuz I’ll just mess it up again
It’s simply Sisyphean
Why can’t you comprehend?
Your nagging and your pleading
Make you sound like such a bore
Now fetch me up some vittles
And then finish all my chores
by Richard W. Bray
At the House of Arts and Letters
Girls like to play with their brains
Where unconstrained by fetters
They pursue artistic gains
Penny perfects petunias
Tiffany tinkers with time
Stephanie celebrates sonnets
While Marian meters out rhyme
Gertrude grows geraniums
Constance combats crime
Anastasia anticipates aliens
While Lucy levitates limes
Dora deciphers documents
And Molly mimics a mime
Hortense handles the holograms
While Sally solidifies slime
If you should stop by for a visit
Leave toys and dollies behind
Their favorite game—what is it?
The wonderful world of the mind
by Richard W. Bray
Been hived and herded
Doused and dirted
Desecrated
And deserted
Life is an ocean
Of misery and woe
Love is a notion
I’m fortunate to know
Been punched and prodded
Nailed and knotted
Fiends who plotted
Stomped and swatted
Life is an ocean
Of misery and woe
Love is a notion
I’m fortunate to know
Been kicked and slandered
Dumped and dandered
Pitched and pandered
Without candor
Life is an ocean
Of misery and woe
Love is a notion
I’m fortunate to know
by Richard W. Bray
What do I gotta say
To make you go away?
I’ll beguile and masquerade
Till you go on your way
I’ll make up any lie
To hear you say goodbye
I’ll say I understand
I’ll tell you I’m your man
I’ll say you are so right
I’m with you in this fight
I’ll promise earth and sky
To hear you say goodbye
by Richard W. Bray
two donuts and a red bull
now I gotta go
sugar sugar sugar caffeine
gotta go & go & go
words come in all directions
words build up inside my brain
try to get em out but
my thumbs cannot explain
by Richard W. Bray
when my head
was in my bootie
i found the
perfect cutie
in my drunken
dream of beauty
her devotion
never tires
she lives for
my desire
i’m all that
she admires
my dreams
cannot resist
a lover
such as this
too bad she
don’t exist
by Richard W. Bray
This fellow who follows
This odd little gent
Just gets on my tail
And never relents
This fellow who follows
The path of my shoes
With a single ambition
To do what I do
This fellow who follows
He just wants to play
It’s always his fate
To get in the way
This fellow who follows
Is my little brother
An object more precious
Than any other
This fellow who follows
My feet to and fro
Has taught me to scruple
And watch where I go
by Richard W. Bray
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