Don't Try!!

M

MULLINAX

Gerard K H Love said:
I'm sorry if you were offended by being compared to the guy in the light blue pants. That looks like something Beetlejuice would do to a man.
Click to expand...
Not offended at all. This is an internet site, not a howling mob of peasants brandishing pitchforks and torches intent on demolishing my house and causing me bodily harm. That would offend me.

I don't get the Beetlejuice reference.

Ignorance is sometimes bliss.
 
C

Composer

Bingo:

"...People gave me money, food, places to stay. Whether they thought I was an idiot or a genius, that didn't matter. I knew what I was. I was neither. What made peope give me gifts didn't concern me. I took the gifts and I took them without a feeling of victory and/or coercion.My only premise was that I couldn't ask for anything. On top of it all, I rather had this little phonograph record spinning around on top of my brain and it kept playing the same tune: don't try don't try. It seemed like an all right idea."

from A Lovely Love Affair, published in The Most Beautiful Woman in Town.

Sorry for drifting on-topic. Please resume your jousting.
 
N

Nitro

I like to write poems too. I think the thing about "don't try" means don't force it. Don't just sit down and say now I'm going to write some pretty poetry or raunchy poetry, whatever the case may be. You write when it comes to you. It has to come to you. You can't force it. If you "try" it doesn't sound natural and overall ends up sounding artificial. The feelings that affect writing poetry are deep rooted and you have to wait for them to surface sometimes. When they don't, you usually miss making your point.
What do you think?
 
Ewok

Ewok

I always interpreted it to mean that you shouldn't force 'it'

But it's hypocritical because Bukowski worked his ass off and was driven as anything probably due to the emotional neglect of his parents.

OK
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
"Don't try" means trying is not enough. You have to go for it wholeheartedly, or as Bukowski wrote in a poem of his:


"If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise don't even start. This could mean losing
girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs. And maybe
your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery, isolation. Isolation is the gift. All
the others are a test of your endurance. Of how much you really want to do it. And you'll do it, despite rejection in the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods. And the nights will flame with fire. You will
ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is. "
 
Pogue Mahone

Pogue Mahone

Officials say drugs may have played a part
I'm trying not to respond to these recent sub-normal posts... fuck, why do I always have to fall for that?
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
That's also what I´m asking myself! Some people prefer their own take on things no matter what the facts are. Maybe I´ll learn one day.
 
zobraks

zobraks

Moderator
We've already read Roll the Dice (quoted a couple of times in this thread, the first time by Sircha 7 years ago) in What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk through the Fire (the book of poems someone we know riddled with bullets), thank you.
 
Ewok

Ewok

Don't start

but if you do start

go all the way

I think Bukowski was all about authenticity. It wasn't about glamour really, there was a lot of psychodrama in his writing and his own reasons for writing.

I imagine the idea of these university educated pampered kids trying to make it as writers would have been quite sickening to this man.

I don't think anyone should read Bukowski didactically whether it be this, the drinking, the life...any of it. Bukowski had the blessing and a curse of a fire in his heart that no beer or wine could douse. I don't think many people actually want the type of intensity Bukowski or any of these major idols have, most people just want the effects (money, success etc...)
 
Ewok

Ewok

It's a box - not a bag.

Where do you want observations to lead?

And just look at yourself for a minute...if I contribute nothing....what do you contribute by doing nothing other than criticize me?

you have know that it's futile to be a self-hating aggressive message board posting stereotype

You MUST know this.
 
Ewok

Ewok

Is it?

I battle that all the time....

I'm a pretentious forced fake fraudulent fuck

but I'd rather be all those things than mundane
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Everyone calm down.

"Ewok," you must know that you are also a "message board posting stereotype," and that's why you meet with a lot of resistance or disdain or dismissiveness. When your observations aren't wrong they're obvious, so no matter how much effort you put into them, chances are they are going to be seen as wrong or obvious. Think about where you are, and understand that you're going to have to dig deeper to come up with something that hasn't already been said here 100 times. A flair for the obvious is never going to carry a lot of weight among specialists.

We can all get along if everyone realizes they are a stereotype and, yes, an idiot. It's a tough pill to swallow for many of us, I understand, but it's true. You're playing your part, I'm playing my part, Skiroom is playing his part - everyone here is a type (since we're all human, as far as I can tell), and none of it means anything. Try not to get too bent out of shape, kid. It's unbecoming. Life is short.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top