Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Poem Thursday - Bukowski

I don't think I had read any Charles Bukowski until tonight. I think I like him. I just read a handful, there were several I liked.

I liked this one. It made me think of a friend who loves gambling and is headed back to work today after a bit of a vacation:

gamblers all

sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think,
I'm not going to make it, but you laugh inside
remembering all the times you've felt that way, and
you walk to the bathroom, do your toilet, see that face
in the mirror, oh my oh my oh my, but you comb your hair anyway,
get into your street clothes, feed the cats, fetch the
newspaper of horror, place it on the coffee table, kiss your
wife goodbye, and then you are backing the car out into life itself,
like millions of others you enter the arena once more.

you are on the freeway threading through traffic now,
moving both towards something and towards nothing at all as you punch
the radio on and get Mozart, which is something, and you will somehow
get through the slow days and the busy days and the dull
days and the hateful days and the rare days, all both so delightful
and so disappointing because
we are all so alike and so different.

you find the turn-off, drive through the most dangerous
part of town, feel momentarily wonderful as Mozart works
his way into your brain and slides down along your bones and
out through your shoes.

it's been a tough fight worth fighting
as we all drive along
betting on another day.



I liked a 340 dollar horse and a hundred dollar whore too. check it out, if you'd like. I think I am going to have to find out some more about Mr. Bukowski.....

7 comments:

Girlplustwo said...

i like this one a lot.

Jennifer S said...

I like it, too. Especially this:

feel momentarily wonderful as Mozart works
his way into your brain and slides down along your bones and
out through your shoes.

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

I just discovered him too!

furiousBall said...

I'm on the fence on Bukowski, when you just read him, I like the realism and imagery he conjures. but another part of me knows that the majority of this is really just the way he is and his level of creativity can be called into question.

but in a way, i kinda like that too...

see i just talked myself out of and then back into liking him... see?

Suzie said...

I love Bukowski ham on rye was my favorite book as a teenager

Tricia said...

i like this too. Thanks for pointing him out.

shrink on the couch said...

see that face
in the mirror, oh my oh my oh my, but you comb your hair anyway



I know exactly whacha mean, Bukowski. sometimes that look in the mirror is the biggest gamble of all.