Broken People Get Recycled / The Bully / Rainbows – Poetry by Liz Brady
Lisa of Doorway was recently e-mailed by Liz Brady, an English teacher and poet in the USA, who had found Doorway in a ‘random on-line search’. She offered us the use of three of her poems, previously published in ‘The Homeless Voice’, of Hollywood, Florida, in the hope that they might ‘uplift’ people. We thank her, and we think they will.
Biographical note (by Liz herself):
“Liz Brady teaches high school English in the U. S. She enjoys volunteering and believes that powerful words can help people find the will to heal themselves. Liz uses the power of poetry and writing to connect others and to help them understand that we all have more in common than we think. She hopes that people will learn to have more compassion for those struggling with illness, depression, poverty and disabilities. You can contact her to request more poetry of hope and healing at ”
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Broken People Get Recycled
Think you’re garbage
Act like trash
Discarded
Crumpled
Crushed and mashed
Broken people get recycled
No… it’s not too late
Entertainment
Turns addiction
Fantasy
Turns life
To fiction
Broken dreams can be recycled
Don’t fall prey to “fate”
Face your inner rage
Self-loathing
Masked by smiles
Make-up
Clothing
Save yourself before the planet
You’re more than what you hate
Stalk yourself
For treasures buried
Time to lose
The shame
You’ve carried
Tell your self that you deserve
No more inner debate
Your laundered karma
Still will bleed
Even washed on gentle speed
But broken people get recycled
Believe
It’s not
Too late
———–
The Bully
There is a little voice inside
A bully
Relentless
Merciless
Cruel
Instead of fighting back
You take it
Believe it
Agree
It is time
For a revolution
When you no longer cower
The berating will stop
You can tell the bully
To go back to hell
You don’t live there anymore
You can give him
Compassion no one ever showed
Heal him with kindness
You can stop reacting
Ignore him until he learns
He’s wasting his time
But you can’t keep encouraging him
Or pretending
You don’t hear him
Harassment will follow you
It will get worse
Will cause destruction
Someone or something will break
Choose a path to healing
Make a plan
Be brave
All public institutions
Implemented anti-bullying policies
Make one
Follow it
Reclaim your power
You deserve the right to be happy
You deserve to right to be at peace
To piece together
What you’ve done right
Where you’ve gone wrong
Who you have hurt
How you can do better
Forgive yourself
Forgive the bully
And for your own sake
Stop beating yourself up
…………………………………………………………————
Rainbows
You hardly ever see full rainbows
Half-rainbows are smile bringers
Unexpected while driving
Light rain clearing
They wink at you
Give you a precious little moment
Make you feel the world is beautiful
Life is a gift
But our eyes rarely absorb the full picture
Like the ones we used to draw as children
Years of pollution
Block the light
Filter the colors
Stop us from seeing the entire spectrum
Perhaps we could take part in that clean-up
The one we’ve been thinking about joining
Work together and find ways to clear pollutants
Detoxify
Cleanse
It’s time to reveal rows of magnificent multi-colored light
Glorious expressions of truth and beauty
Pure radiant energy
Shining through overcast raincloud days
The skies are clearing
We’re all full rainbows