#bricks
Written by Mike Hauser and Roger Turner
(We're available for weddings, funerals and bridge openings)
The day I win the lottery
I’m going to buy this town
I’ll do all I can to build it up
Then I’ll tear it down
I’ll build a mall for shopping
Put my name on solid ground
I’ll do all I can to build it up
So folks can gather ’round
They’ll come from miles to see the place
A marvel newly found
I’ll make myself a legend here
Before I tear it down
I’ll pave the streets with promises
Hang banners all around
Cut ribbons, shake a thousand hands
Swear I won’t let them down
I’ll fund the schools, the parks, the plays
Let fireworks resound
They’ll toast my name in every bar
This miracle of town
Parades will roll on every street
The headlines sing my praise
A boom so big they’ll never see
The cracks beneath the glaze
They’ll raise my statue to the sky
Bind stories leather-bound
I’ll smile, sign one last paycheck
And quietly shut it down
Because it never was the town
Or glory, bricks, or crown
It was the joy of building dreams
Just to tear them down
The day I win the lottery
I’m going to buy this town
I’ll do all I can to build it up
Then I’ll tear it down
Jan 4
Jan 4, 2026 at 5:22 PM UTC
Building up my anger,
_brick by brick._
Laying a wicked heart upon
the cement of hurt I feel;
And if I were a street— everyone would
now be correct to walk all over me,
_brick by brick._
A bridge, to gap two parties as the
middle ground to all their arguments
—an abandoned apartment, filled with
all the tenants, of memories well lived,
_brick by brick._
A madhouse, for all of the creativity;
to out there for the world to even understand
So brick by brick, they lay
Day by day, I try not to build a
wall around my constructed smile,
_brick by brick._
Apr 23, 2024
Apr 23, 2024 at 12:43 PM UTC
poisonous trash thrown
lives underwater suffer
wide bricks hold them in
Feb 20, 2021
Feb 20, 2021 at 5:15 AM UTC
I struggle when I have to write
rhyme you see naturally I'm slight
towards the free verse, trying to get
it perfect, just right I start to sweat.
My words syllables are just what ever
comes in to my mind, Im not words clever.
For some this comes naturally, I have to
use sites as my words need to be next in que.
But to some this is a natural progression,
is it for me worth it which is the question?
We say to learn is to elevate ourselves higher.
Using this metaphor in hope I don't misfire.
I'm poetic blue, I write on cold white warming
it up with words, hopefully there correctly forming.
May 24, 2020
May 24, 2020 at 10:39 AM UTC
life has its tricks,
sometimes, it’ll hit you with bricks,
but even if I crack, I’m still me.
Just because I’m broken,
doesn’t mean there’s anything to fix.
May 14, 2020
May 14, 2020 at 3:15 PM UTC
Brick by brick keeps staking on my chest, trying to test to see if I'll crack. The more bricks, the more heaver it gets. Now I'm drowning in a puddle I didn't even know exists.
Mar 16, 2020
Mar 16, 2020 at 10:54 PM UTC
You feel you are a stack of mortar and brick
I see you as a sailing ship
So funny how these things contradict
You think you’re still, I say you’re still moving
Shift with me, but standing against the waves
You’re not one for the newest craze
Traditional as you innovate
You and your wonderful “you-ness”
See each time you rise and fall
Ship to sea, not stagnant wall
Consistently moving, never to be stalled
Till your destination is reached
And until you sail again
Dec 2, 2019
Dec 2, 2019 at 12:14 PM UTC
the red bricks destroy the green woods
leave them alone
do not interfere
if you do
do not ask why it despises us
Nov 25, 2019
Nov 25, 2019 at 10:13 AM UTC
lay those bricks on the ground
protect what you hold dear
drown in the sound
so quiet you cannot hear
city birds they run free
from cages of metal and rising smoke
but my brothers next to me
take a breath only to choke
there is nothing we can do
but we can only try
say it over again till it rings true
'this city will never die'
Nov 18, 2019
Nov 18, 2019 at 4:07 PM UTC
I built these walls up,
Brick by brick,
When I was just a child.
They kept me safe,
They kept me sane,
They kept me from you.
I built these walls up,
Brick by brick,
Cementing them with the hate,
The pain,
The disgust
That you inflicted upon me.
I built these walls up,
Brick by brick,
Hoping they could shield my heart,
Hoping they could protect me from the world,
Hoping they could stop you.
I built these walls up,
Brick by brick,
A layer for each hour of loathing,
Each hour of self-hatred,
Each hour of torture,
That I barely endured.
I built these walls up,
Brick by brick,
To save me from the world.
To save the world from me.
But then you came,
On that motorcycle.
Speeding down my road
With coldness in your heart.
But then you came,
And tore these walls apart.
And I couldn't bear it;
You ripped them asunder with your bare fingers
Without even laying a hand on me.
But then you came,
And I saw your face,
And these walls
I had built up,
Brick by brick,
All those years ago,
Those walls came shattering down.
Jun 8, 2019
Jun 8, 2019 at 4:28 PM UTC
It hits me
Like a ton of bricks
Every single time
Sometimes
I’m not strong enough
To get back up
Brick by brick
I’m hit
Mar 9, 2019
Mar 9, 2019 at 11:55 AM UTC
Glowing Windows embedded into mouldy brick walls
Ivy climbing the gutters of neighbourhood roofs
Skies becoming burnt out like charred blackened fields
Tall spiny trees project shadows onto the road below
Leaves curl up to receive some weakening light from above
A formation of sputtering cars cling to each turn they decide to make
Cloudy milky light bounces off faulty windows that exhale the aroma of somebodies impending supper
A heavy truck manoeuvres itself into the blistered bitumen horizon
Dry deflated branches make obscene gestures towards passers-by
Gardeners rummage through their bags as they near the end of their working day
Their faces filled with an expired enthusiasm for breathing
Parked hunks of metal pelted with dead itchy leaves
Windscreen wipers hold fragile twigs down against grotty neglected glass
Chain-link fences link disparate housing and the sleeping people within
Some dispirited unsatisfied psychos gaze up as they catch a moving bus
Smoky Incense billows down from some apartment balcony
The air becomes cold and sharply fills these ordinary streets
Engine sounds try to supress the divine quietness
They only merge into it
Now the stars are out and about
Bright specks waddling in an aerial pool of dark blue
You turn the key and walk through the front door
Feb 27, 2019
Feb 27, 2019 at 11:24 AM UTC
A senior monk and a junior monk were traveling together. At one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the monks were preparing to cross the river, they saw a very young and beautiful woman also attempting to cross. The young woman asked if they could help her cross to the other side.
The two monks glanced at one another because they had taken vows not to touch a woman.
Then, without a word, the older monk picked up the woman, carried her across the river, placed her gently on the other side, and carried on his
journey.
The younger monk couldn’t believe what had just happened. After rejoining his companion, he was speechless, and an hour passed without a word between them.
Two more hours passed, then three, finally the younger monk could contain himself any longer, and blurted out “As monks, we are not permitted a woman, how could you then carry that woman on your shoulders?”
The older monk looked at him and replied, “Brother, I set her down on the other side of the river, why are you still carrying her?”
Nov 28, 2018
Nov 28, 2018 at 9:27 PM UTC
I have been putting
Up walls faster than you can
Demolish the bricks
Sep 25, 2018
Sep 25, 2018 at 1:20 PM UTC
moments when i can run my fingers against the fogged up windows and see
the glass feels so thin right then
like we could just make one synchronized move together and it would break
through the glass i can see calmness
ease
love
there is no wall anymore, no glass
only surmountable obstacles we know we can endure
just past this glass
the glass isn’t going anywhere anytime soon though
it will stay no matter how much we pound at it
our hands are still bleeding from the last time we tried, remember?
of course you do
it feels like you take pride in never forgetting
i know- this never can be
i know it’s just pretend
but i like to wipe my sleeve across the glass anyways
eyes squinting
heart racing
just to see a glance of what could be
i’ll press my lips against the glass
pretend we’re kissing
hold my hand
imagine it in your head
while i place my hand on cold hard glass instead
imagine the heat was able to transfer through
imagine how warm my arms would feel around you
but that isn’t what we do
you love to fog up the glass
standing there from the other side
you love to push this away
even though i’m already as far away
as i could ever be
and while you hastily breath a puff of vapor into the freezing air
i watch as it blurs my view
distorts your face
and i turn away from the window
push my back against bricks
and wonder how i could shake the world so the glass would shatter and lead to a path
right to you
but there’s nothing i can do
we stand on opposite sides
wishing left and right was just
Here.
Jun 16, 2018
Jun 16, 2018 at 10:16 PM UTC
We built a wall of
Lies and desperation laid
With uncertain bricks
May 28, 2018
May 28, 2018 at 9:56 AM UTC
I was in the old sector of a city
one day
and I thought
of this boy
whom I might've
liked
to love
in another life.
I remember he told me
one day
he'd want to live
in the old part
of a big city.
I asked him why,
and in all honesty,
I wouldn't be able to tell you his answer.
Walking through that neighborhood,
I think
I might've known why.
Modern cities
are full of culture
and people
and noise,
but the historic districts-
the original apartments
and bricks
and stones-
they have souls
and thousands
of memories.
Those buildings have witnessed
history
in the making.
Mar 31, 2018
Mar 31, 2018 at 9:02 PM UTC
I didn't mean to hurt you
I know that does not make it right
If good intentions really pave the road to Hell
I have been laying bricks all night
Mar 25, 2018
Mar 25, 2018 at 4:03 PM UTC
I could live here
In this old, old town
Running around
Late at night
Kissing up against
Worn brown bricks.
Mar 22, 2018
Mar 22, 2018 at 10:52 PM UTC
Kate said that she liked bricks.
I was taught that bricks are bad.
And they are bad.
Kate likes to tell me about bricks.
I don't like to listen,
But I must listen or else Kate will lay bricks down.
Kate scares me.
I don't want to talk to her,
But I must.
I don't want to become like Kate,
And I don't want others to become like Kate.
Bricks are bad.
Stay away from Bricks and Brick Layers.
Jan 13, 2018
Jan 13, 2018 at 1:25 AM UTC
***I placed the
words as bricks,
And
bury the things
with the poetricks!***
Oct 13, 2017
Oct 13, 2017 at 12:26 PM UTC
It all crashes down at once
Like a million bricks
Falling individually
One after the other
After the other
After the other
Crashing down
Breaking a different bone each time
Hurting in different ways
Making you feel helpless
Hopeless
Useless
Breaking each bone that you need
If you want to succeed.
Oct 4, 2017
Oct 4, 2017 at 12:34 AM UTC
Im not gon' write a poem about you.
Uh uh.
I'm not about to allow you to make me FEEL
And allow you to fill
Me up
In such a way that my subconscious has to throw you up and onto a page
Nope
I'm not about to write a poem for you
Nooo siree, you see I've made that mistake
Prior.
When I was young and silly and hopeful.
I went and bought a fancy pen
The kind that writes so smoothly and makes my cursive extra pretty, but you know it bleeds?
I thought the ink that dripped from MY pen once it soaked through
It would sort of seal us in the paper
Like I said, I was mistaken so
No.
I'm not about to write a poem for you TOO
And just leave myself exposed?
I mean who knows
if I replace those little tiny "o"s for hearts over my "i"s when I dot em that soon you could care less
For the stress on my esteem after you're mean leaving the apples of my cheeks with salty tears streaming down them
So naw'l
I refuse to tell the world how you made me blush when your lips found them.
Or how we had so much in common
It was raining but we just kept walking
You made me laugh until I was coughin'
I ain't gonna do it
I've learned its better to not let you soften-
my heart
But instead I mold bricks
cause it seems noone wants to actually bring any GOOD to it.
Seems 9 times out of ten all they want to DO
Is to do IT
when all I want is you to put
my hand in yours and stare into my eyes and search my heart and not my thighs
I'm not gonna try
And make this something more than what is was.
Just because of what I felt the warm and fuzz of flirty words spoken over Patty melts?
It was nice.
But I dont think that warrant's you a poem.
Not an admonition of my humanness
Not another proclamation of my foolishness
for allowing myself to think,
dare I say hope
that those two hours of my precious life were 2 not wasted?
And Not worth the energy for me to store the memory
in the best way made for me to preserve it?
A poem?
How am I supposed to know that you deserve it?
But how can I resist within that moment?
After reflectin' on my day I find my mind keeps
pressing replay
on those two hours in Ferndale
And how we talked until nightfell.
Forgot to feed the meter cause what is time?
Hell I was frozen by you, guy.
I digged my nose into your life and just kept goin.
You had the audacity to inquire about my dreams and all my passions
and what makes me get up outta bed every morning
So I HAD to ask you back
And I listened
And I enjoyed what you said
And as we parted ways I had to immediately LIE
and document it in my head
Under "non-important"
It was nice
But don't let yourself get excited
Felt like I was on cloud 9 but gotta hide it
Come off the high
Cause what if in the end it's unrequited?
and I'm upset with you
Regretting you
No.
HATING you for letting me feel slighted
Yeah you tried it.
I mean YOU didn't.
At least not yet...
I just don't wanna write another poem that I'll want to forget.
Mar 2, 2017
Mar 2, 2017 at 8:31 AM UTC