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

                                                                  —————

                                                 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

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