Posts Tagged ‘Poetry’

You got Problems

September 29, 2009

You got Problems

You know what your problem is?

You talk too much
You’re way too vain
Your socks don’t match
You’re not quite sane
You got too many hobbies
You don’t like sports
You can’t make an omlette
You need new shorts
You read too many books
Your breath smells bad
You chose the wrong religion
You don’t know my dad
You never stop to listen
You’re from the wrong town
You can’t hit a curveball
Your hair is brown
You’re not in my club
You can’t climb a tree
You don’t speak French
You sing off key

There I said it,
Why can’t you just be
Someone who is
More like me?

by Richard W. Bray

Sunshine and Happiness

September 25, 2009

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzgrumpy

Sunshine and Happiness

Melanie Margaret McClintock, The Third
Can’t stand to hear an encouraging word
So if you want to send her away
Here’s a list of words that you can say:

Sunshine and happiness, polka dots and pie
Puppy dogs and moonbeams, a clear blue sky
Friendship and families and root beer floats
Kindness and cleanliness and cozy woolen coats
Flowers and rainbows, warm winter gloves
Freedom and Motherhood, goodness and love
Birthdays and holidays, crunchy candy bars
Bubble baths and babies, twinkling little stars
Fairgrounds and Fridays, fun that’s always funny
Pinballs and pizza, a truck with loads of money
Grandpa and gumballs, a week at summer camp
Barbeques, fresh-cut lawns, a genie in a lamp
A night under the stars and a day at the beach
Everything that’s good and true, all within your reach

But if you are with Melanie, try to be polite
Speak of dark and gloomy days and long, depressing nights
Mention graveyards and garbage and grungy old grime
And the two of you are sure to have such a lovely time

by Richard W. Bray

Excuses, Excuses

September 24, 2009

images (2)

Excuses, Excuses

Wonderful to see you
Wish I had more time
But I’ve been called upon to solve
Some uncommitted crime

Yesterday my fish died
Hope you understand
The funeral arrangements
Turned out to be quite grand

Sensible precautions
Clearly do dictate
It’s time to walk my hamster
The hour is getting late

Sadly, duty beckons
It’s my privilege to attend
A gathering to honor
An unnamed future friend

Saturday my car broke
When I drove across the street
And I could walk to greet you
If I didn’t have two sore feet

Happily, I promise
(Assuming I’m around)
To make time to see you
The next time you’re in town

by Richard W. Bray

Unspeakable Things

September 21, 2009

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwcube

Unspeakable Things

In the center of the town Lidane there stands a giant box
It’s tall and black with shiny sides. It takes up several blocks
It’s protected by a giant fence with razorwire and locks
And though it’s there for all to see, no one ever talks

About the cube in the square, near the old dog pound
And just two blocks from the stage where the King was crowned
What I’m about to say is rather odd and surely will astound
But instead of tearing down the box, they prefer to go around

The monstrous thing which scars the scene and obstructs the view
It can be seen for miles around, from downtown to the zoo
Blotting out the heavens with its blatant hue
But the weirdest thing about the box, yes, quite strange but true

Is that the people of Lidane pretend it isn’t there
They ignore it through their busy day and hardly give a care
As though the giant structure were just so much thin air
To ever question what it means. Oh no, they just don’t dare

by Richard W. Bray

The Cavalry of Woe

September 16, 2009


To fight aloud, is very brave—
But gallanter, I know
Who charge within the bosom
The Cavalry of Woe—

—Emily Dickinson

The Cavalry of Woe

There’s just one place I will not go
But we’re not here because of me
There are some things I must not know

The cavalry remains in tow
It’s not about to set me free
There’s just one place I will not go

Does it exist that does not show?
The wound that I will never see
There are some things I must not know

I’ll say again, the answer’s “No.”
It’s not my lock, it’s not my key
There’s just one place I will not go

It’s not the time to trek below
The prudent ones would all agree
There are some things I must not know

The bosom aches with private woe
But it’s best to let it be
There’s just one place I will not go
There are some things I must not know

by Richard W. Bray

What Your Dad’s Underpants Have To Do With Space Travel (Brady Rhoades)

September 15, 2009

(Editor’s Note: Brady Rhoades is a Southern California writer whose work has appeared in Visions International, Chiron Review, Comstock Review, Beacon Street Review, Bryant Literary Review, Antioch Review and many other publications. We are thrilled to have him as our first guest blogger.)

What Your Dad’s Underpants
Have To Do With Space Travel

Been thinking of the astronaut who drifted away

in his capsule, still drifting in the huge space out there,

part of a loop. Eighty five years old,

going bony, brain splat on the steel hatch,

mouth in a slush, thighs running around the cabin.

Written off by the Russian government in 1960.

Nobody wants to think of him this way. It’s better

not to think of some things, like your Dad’s underpants.

Where is the good in my Dad’s underpants? you ask.

And what’s it got to do with astronauts?

Which reminds me: he must have been wearing underpants.

It’s not all about spacesuits, radar, physics.

Nobody wants to admit that sad diaper was loosed

on the universe, but it was, an artifact

of the human race, and they’ll draw conclusions, you know.

I’m Really not a Violent Man

September 15, 2009

I’m Really not a Violent Man

I’m really not a violent man
That’s something you should know
But I could kill with my bare hands

My family bled to get this land
We’re not about to let it go
I’m really not a violent man

To serve the interests of my clan
I’d suffer any blow
But I could kill with my bare hands

It must be part of some great plan
This gruesome tale of woe
I’m really not a violent man

This dreadful little plot of sand
Is hardly worth my little toe
But I could kill with my bare hands

When dirt means more than any man
Then someone’s blood must flow
I’m really not a violent man
But I could kill with my bare hands

by Richard W. Bray

I Let it Fall

September 14, 2009

(I’ll continue with some more villanelles for the next few days. I’m goofy for villanelles. Some of my favorites are “Mad Girl’s Love Song,” “If I could Tell You” and “The Waking.” The cool thing about villanelles is that once you’ve written the first three lines, you’re 42% finished.

There are various ways this poem could be read. I’m not even sure how I wrote it. But it is not meant in any way to advocate suicide. Whether or not any of us deserves to live, an existential outlook requires that we try at least to make the best of it. My poem “Although You cannot Bless” makes it obvious that I don’t have much use for the concept of Grace, but here is an eloquent rebuttal from someone who does.)

I Let it Fall

You flung your heart at me, I let it fall
The greatest gift that I could ever know
I don’t deserve to live, no not at all

Imagine the stupidity and gall
To annihilate what still had room to grow
You flung your heart at me, I let it fall

I sit and cry and try not to recall
The only thing that ever made me whole
I don’t deserve to live, no not at all

I’ll weep and plead and kneel and beg and crawl
But it’s too late to let my feelings show
You flung your heart at me, I let it fall

You won’t see me and won’t return my call
I fear that this will be the final blow
I don’t deserve to live, no not at all

I cannot navigate beyond this wall
I guess it’s really time for me to go
You flung your heart at me, I let it fall
I don’t deserve to live, no not at all

by Richard W. Bray

Fastidious Fred

September 10, 2009

Fastidious Fred

Fastidious Fred makes his own bed
It takes him half an hour
And you can bet, if he breaks a sweat
He always takes a shower

Everyone knows, he irons his clothes
Until they look like new
“It takes all day,” he likes to say,
“But what’s a guy to do?”

“I demand perfection beyond detection
And will not tolerate
Things deficient or insufficient
Or somehow second rate”

He had a wife, the light of his life
But she did not make the cut
He sent her away one rainy day
When the door was improperly shut

“It may sound cruel, but I need my rules
They bring order to my life
Discipline and a strict regimen
Protect me from chaos and strife”

Fred lives alone in an immaculate home
And no one comes to see him
His house is clean and downright pristine
But no one wants to be him

by Richard W. Bray

Advice

September 8, 2009

guru

Advice

I’m not you and you’re not me and thus it isn’t wise
For me to say what you should do or simply to advise
Anyone on how to live or say what I would do
If I were somehow in your skin living life for you

If I could live your whole life and feel all your feelings
Then I would be the perfect guy to handle all your dealings
But if you want to hear me say “What I would do if I were you…”
I’m afraid the only answer is “I haven’t got a clue”

Looking back on things I’ve done and things I thought I’d do
I must admit how many times my forecasts were untrue
I’d love to tell you what to do, but it mustn’t be
I can’t predict what I would do even if I were me

by Richard W. Bray