Poetry by Robert F. Bradford

First, I hid my opinions
Nobody wanted to hear them anyway
Then, I hid my desires
Nobody wanted to fulfill them anyway
Next, I hid my plans
Nobody was interested anyway
Automatically, I hid my visions
Nobody shared them anyway
Of course, I hid my songs
Nobody wanted to sing them anyway
Always, I hid my stories
Nobody could grasp them anyway
Barely, I hid my art
Nobody could fail to distort it anyway
Finally, I hid myself
Away from all the nobodies.

Then I sought that hidden self
And all the lovely somebodies
Appeared.


Robert F. Bradford has won two Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards (Best Play, Fringe of Marin Festival), and been produced in the Midtown International Theatre Festival (NYC). Stories in The Raven’s Perch and Slow Trains Literary Journal. He is an Adjunct Professor of English and Humanities at Dominican University of California.