Archive for the ‘Literature’ Category

For The Foxes by Charles Bukowski

don’t feel sorry for me.
I am a competent,
satisfied human being.

be sorry for the others
who
fidget
complain

who
constantly
rearrange their
lives
like
furniture.

juggling mates
and
attitudes

their
confusion is
constant

and it will
touch
whoever they
deal with.

beware of them:
one of their
key words is
“love.”

and beware those who
only take
instructions from their
God

for they have
failed completely to live their own
lives.

don’t feel sorry for me
because I am alone

for even
at the most terrible
moments
humor
is my
companion.

I am a dog walking
backwards

I am a broken
banjo

I am a telephone wire
strung up in
Toledo, Ohio

I am a man
eating a meal
this night
in the month of
September.

put your sympathy
aside.
they say
water held up
Christ:
to come
through
you better be
nearly as
lucky.

Category:

English, Literature

The People by Charles Bukowski

all people start to
 come apart finally
 and there it is:
 just empty ashtrays in a room
 or wisps of hair on a comb
 in the dissolving moonlight.

it is all ash and dry leaves
 and grief gone
 like an ocean liner.

when the shoes fill with blood
 you know
 that the shoes are dead.

true revolution
 comes from true revulsion;
 when things get bad enough
 the kitten will kill the lion.

the statues in the church of my childhood
 and the candles that burn at their feet
 if I could only take these
 and open their eyes
 and feel their legs
 and hear their clay mouths
 say the true
 clay
 words.

Category:

English, Literature

Tagged with:

Cause and Effect by Charles Bukowski

the best often die by their own hand
just to get away,
and those left behind
can never quite understand
why anybody
would ever want to
get away
from
them

Category:

English, Literature

Tagged with:

Finish by Charles Bukowski

We are like roses that have never bothered to 

bloom when we should have bloomed and 

it is as if

the sun has become disgusted with waiting

Category:

English, Literature

Don’t Forget By Charles Bukowski

There is always somebody or something
waiting for you,
something stronger, more intelligent,
more evil, more kind, more durable,
something bigger, something better,
something worse, something with
eyes like the tiger, jaws like the shark,
something crazier than crazy,
saner than sane,
there is always something or somebody
waiting for you
as you put on your shoes
or as you sleep
or as you empty a garbage can
or pet your cat
or brush your teeth
or celebrate a holiday
there is always somebody or something
waiting for you.

keep this fully in mind
so that when it happens
you will be as ready as possible.

meanwhile, a good day to
you
if you are still there.
I think that I am—
I just burnt my fingers on
this
cigarette.

Category:

English, Literature

Tagged with: