Month: January 2015

BrooksLooks@ Inhospitable

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Inhospitable

if we put down the double latte
move away from our little screens
try to become human again
if we remember what it means

generous employers decades ago
provided commendable steady work
benefits, pensions and raises earned
without armed workers gone berserk

honorable employees decades ago
gave a lifetime of blood and sweat
they earned each precious benefit
the ones we no longer get

the social contract fractured
when money became the goal
now we see where it’s all leading
as we face the social toll

we’re all out on the run today
searching for what it all means
thankful for our friends and family
for lattes and little screens

© Copyright 2015 Brooks Bradbury / BrooksLooks

BrooksLooks@ Snake in the Road

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Snake in the Road

it started with a garter snake
flattened in the street
the harmless little garden kind
whilst squished, was rather neat

“they’re the good ones” people quip
“they couldn’t ever hurt”
like the big fat slithery black ones
down there in the dirt

let them go their merry way
in the herpetological code
but it’s open season on the highway
when they’re stretched across the road

in Appalachia
them copperheads can make someone think twice
the poison ones come at ‘ya
them timber rattlers ain’t half as nice

but out in Arizona
the snakes have all turned pro
so you better watch out, out there
if that’s where yer plannin’ to go

see there’s twenty kinds of diamondbacks
that stare out of those rocky cracks
and that lightnin’ fast Mojave kind
say your prayers when one attacks

sonoran racers and whip snakes
are colorful and mellow
but a coral snake bite is all it takes
‘cause “red and yellow kills a fellow”

it’s a queasy kind of feeling though
for even a ranch-worn drover
who sees a diamondback with tire tracks
when his pickup runs one over

there ain’t no moral to the tale
when it comes to deadly snakes
avoid ’em on the trail fer sure
on the road avoid them brakes

© Copyright 2014 Brooks Bradbury / BROOKS LOOKS

BrooksLooks@ Insha’Allah

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Insha’Allah

don’t tell me it’s about religion
all i see is evil on the rise
violent false bravado
in a madman’s mad disguise

so keep your eyes to Allah
so you’ll know when the time is right
to kiss your jihadi ass goodbye
when the drones fly over at night

die you radicalized league of fools
as you revel in your lies
tell them over and over again
until each suicide bomber dies

just try to threaten freedom’s reign
our free speech never lost in vain
if you choose to kill
because you think it’s Allah’s will
your religion so aggrieved
you’ll die a gruesome death deceived

so best keep your eyes to Allah
to know when the time is right
to kiss your jihadi ass goodbye
when the drones fly over at night

© Copyright 2015 Brooks Bradbury

BrooksLooks@ Kaleidoscope

~ Brooks Bradbury / BrooksLooks ~ 1 Comment
Kaleidoscope by Brooks Bradbury

Kaleidoscope

running away
beyond these walls
smashing the glass
i scream in sterile halls

at the end of my years
i’m full of fears
so many tears
each piece of my life
was once crystal clear

now like shards
of colored glass
that tumble together
in time’s impasse

endless shapes
roll round and round
bits of my memory
broken, lost
no longer found

unfamiliar patterns
as i move from the light
darker by the moment
my soul’s final fight

unsteady hands
the pieces keep
turning, moving
i no longer know
i’m no longer improving

[she walked to where
the circled chairs,
a familiar stranger,
her husband of 50 years–
was waiting there]

tell me who you are again?
will you help me see?
did i know you once?
were you kind to me?

won’t you sit a bit
and talk with me a while?
hold my hand
i think that once
i knew your lovely smile

my spirit shattered
i’ll escape today!
over the wall
beyond my fears
if i break this glass
i’ll get far away

leaving shards
of colored glass
to tumble together
in my last gasp
endless shapes
go round and round
bits of memory
lost, remaining now
forever un-found

wait for me
i’m still right here
all my heart
all my fears
uncertainty and tears
where is my home?

when can I go home?

Dedicated to Dot & Frank and to The Elms’ Chestnut Cottage, Memory Care Alzheimer’s Disease Unit, Westerly RI

© Copyright Brooks Bradbury 2015