Born into this. - Bukowski

[TooConscious]

You know when something really hit you years ago, but you forgot all about it. I just remembered this beautiful poem.



I like on the recording just at the end when he finishes the read and says "serious shit,.... Yeah... Could happen" , and the others seem to chuckle as if to say "nah humanity will never let itself get that bad".
And hullah, look where we are at the end of 2020.


Born like this
Into this
As the chalk faces smile
As Mrs. Death laughs
As the elevators break
As political landscapes dissolve
As the supermarket bag boy holds a college degree
As the oily fish spit out their oily prey
As the sun is masked
We are
Born like this
Into this
Into these carefully mad wars
Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness
Into bars where people no longer speak to each other
Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings
Born into this
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it's cheaper to die
Into lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guilty
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes
Born into this
Walking and living through this
Dying because of this
Muted because of this
Castrated
Debauched
Disinherited
Because of this
Fooled by this
Used by this
Pissed on by this
Made crazy and sick by this
Made violent
Made inhuman
By this
The heart is blackened
The fingers reach for the throat
The gun
The knife
The bomb
The fingers reach toward an unresponsive god
The fingers reach for the bottle
The pill
The powder
We are born into this sorrowful deadliness
We are born into a government 60 years in debt
That soon will be unable to even pay the interest on that debt
And the banks will burn
Money will be useless
There will be open and unpunished murder in the streets
It will be guns and roving mobs
Land will be useless
Food will become a diminishing return
Nuclear power will be taken over by the many
Explosions will continually shake the earth
Radiated robot men will stalk each other
The rich and the chosen will watch from space platforms
Dante's Inferno will be made to look like a children's playground
The sun will not be seen and it will always be night
Trees will die
All vegetation will die
Radiated men will eat the flesh of radiated men
The sea will be poisoned
The lakes and rivers will vanish
Rain will be the new gold
The rotting bodies of men and animals will stink in the dark wind
The last few survivors will be overtaken by new and hideous diseases
And the space platforms will be destroyed by attrition
The petering out of supplies
The natural effect of general decay
And there will be the most beautiful silence never heard
Born out of that.
The sun still hidden there
Awaiting the next chapter.

 

[LooksAtMoonDog]

"I've never been lonely. I've been in a room -- I've felt suicidal. I've been depressed. I've felt awful -- awful beyond all -- but I never felt that one other person could enter that room and cure what was bothering me...or that any number of people could enter that room. In other words, loneliness is something I've never been bothered with because I've always had this terrible itch for solitude. It's being at a party, or at a stadium full of people cheering for something, that I might feel loneliness. I'll quote Ibsen, "The strongest men are the most alone." I've never thought, "Well, some beautiful blonde will come in here and give me a fuck-job, rub my balls, and I'll feel good." No, that won't help. You know the typical crowd, "Wow, it's Friday night, what are you going to do? Just sit there?" Well, yeah. Because there's nothing out there. It's stupidity. Stupid people mingling with stupid people. Let them stupidify themselves. I've never been bothered with the need to rush out into the night. I hid in bars, because I didn't want to hide in factories. That's all. Sorry for all the millions, but I've never been lonely. I like myself. I'm the best form of entertainment I have. Let's drink more wine!"
― Charles Bukowski

 

[TooConscious]

Some of his quotes are gold.

I love how his motto "don't try" can be interpreted differently for different perspectives because he was a complex person you dont know his exact thought on it.

I really identify with what he says about the 'Friday night' lark... I was 15 and would get called allsorts by the crowd for going in *early* because I knew straight away idratgercdrink alone in my tiny room than listen to bullshit and pretend affection. And fast forward another 15 years I can count on both hands the nights out I've had.
I felt exactly like him. Though I didn't feel superior like he does he's a little narcissistic. I felt inferior but that wasn't the reason for aloneness, I since realized both those out and those in their room are truly alone anyway and both grasping for a sense of authority to this cesspit of suffering.

 

[Weather]

My God, I haven't thought about Bukowski since my college days. The poems I was particularly drawn to were those with optimism; the juxtaposition of his life and his hope... beautiful. Even if he was a dirty old man!

The Laughing Heart
your life is your life
don't let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can't beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.


Bluebird
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.

then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?

 

[TooConscious]

Bluebird is great, hearing him recite It in his documentary... You can tell that really touches his heart. I gather the bluebird is his soft alter ego.

 

[Weather]

Yes! So good... I always thought the bluebird was hope. If he lets the world know he still has hope, his poetry won't be wanted anymore; he tries to bury it with debauchery; yet, when he permits himself the quietness of night, hope still emerges and sustains him.

 

[TooConscious]

Yes! So good... I always thought the bluebird was hope. If he lets the world know he still has hope, his poetry won't be wanted anymore; he tries to bury it with debauchery; yet, when he permits himself the quietness of night, hope still emerges and sustains him.

Very good simple emphasis.
I am wondering how far one could interpret his work. To be honest he's the only 'poet' I've ever truly took interest in so maybe it's my overwhelmness with writing.

It was rear being reminded of Bukowski before. He gets allsorts of insults regarding his attitude people just accuse him of being a bad person but I feel his works have a lot to offer the world.