Favorite line from Buk?

d gray

tried to do his best but could not
Founding member
probably my favorite rant ever of his - too many great lines to pick one.


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Fuck... my favourite Buk's line is in the translated version to spanish I and just wouldn't dare to do the translation and risk the poetic meaning, sniff :(...

Put it here and ill do the translation, im from México and my english its pretty good.

__


"I think that the miracle of our times is that so many people can write down so many words that mean absolutely nothing".

It comes from an article he wrote for some small magazine who honour him. You can find it on this place, i mean this internet site. Its from Upon the mathematics of the brath and the way.
 
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Digney in Burnaby

donkeys live a long time
"the difference between a bad poet and a good one is luck".
Great Buck

No one has asked yet so I will: who is "Buck"? Buck Henry? Buck Jones? Try Buk (rhymes with puke, blah blah blah).

And a quote. Not so much a line as an aphorism. From a Sep. 7, 1979 letter to John Martin and definitely the way I've been feeling for years:

"There are still things to be handle; there will always be things to be handled. Nobody ever gets caught up and finished on what there is to do. And even if you do, for a moment, feel a central peace, there is always somebody walking behind you with a switchblade."
 

reasonknot

Founding member
Read poem from manuscripts 1978 "hooked in H".I laughed out loud when he says,
"oh,they shit all right,I've seen them."
"but their shit is different"
 
C

Charles

2nd paragraph of chapter 47, Ham on Rye:

Now, I thought, pushing my cart along, I have this job. Is this to be it? No wonder men robbed banks. There were too many demeaning jobs. Why the hell wasn't I a superior court judge or a concert pianist? Because it took training and cost money. But I didn't want to be anything anyhow. And I was certainly succeeding.
 
Bukowski: "Nature is not normal. Nature is not kind. Nature doesn't give a fuck, and I give a fuck." I wonder where this is from--anybody know?
 
Yes, I thought that might be a possibility. Maybe the one titled "Nature"? I seem to
remember he was speaking these lines, rather than reading it somewhere.
 

desertlizard

southpaw
many but i ve always liked this one
"Boring damned people. All over the earth. Propagating more boring damned people. What a horror show. The earth swarmed with them."
 

esart

esart.com
Founding member
..Somebody laid down this rule that everybody's gotta do something, they gotta be something. You know, a dentist, a glider pilot, a narc, a janitor, a preacher, all that. ...Sometimes I just get tired of thinking of all the things that I don't wanna do. All the things that I don't wanna be. Places I don't wanna go, like India, like getting my teeth cleaned. Save the whale, all that, I don't understand that.
 
i'm not sure if someone posted this before me, i didn't check... but my favorite line from his is the last part of yes yes.

(talking about god)

"He made some mistakes
but when He created you lying in bed
He came all over His Blessed Universe."


gets me every time!
 

Rekrab

Usually wrong.
Going from memory here, and I don't know what book it's from, but one of Bukowski's female characters, a wife or girl friend, asks something like "Is my ass on straight?" I love that line. Anyone know the actual line?
 

hank solo

Just practicin' steps and keepin' outta the fights
Moderator
Founding member
Here you go David - from 'Love is a dog from Hell' (and 'Scarlet') - red up and down

red hair
real
she whirled it
and she asked
"is my ass still on?"

such comedy.

there is always one woman
to save you from another
 

Rekrab

Usually wrong.
Thank you, hank solo! I guess I made up that "on straight" part. I need to reread those "Scarlet" poems. If I recall, there were several, all great stuff.
 
It could be a general quote, part of a book, stanza in a poem. My favorite is a quote is:

"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 time you felt that way."

What's yours?
 
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