Favorite line from Buk?
- Thread starter Kingcargo.jb
- Start date
"BEWARE of those quick to Praise for they NEED Praise in Return"
"Sleepy now
at 4:00am
i hear the siren
of a white
ambulance
then a dog
barks
once
in this tough-boy
Christmas
Morning"
"Sleepy now
at 4:00am
i hear the siren
of a white
ambulance
then a dog
barks
once
in this tough-boy
Christmas
Morning"
"When you drank the world was still out there; but for the moment it didn't have you by the throat."
“those who escape hell
however
never talk about
it
and nothing much
bothers them
after
that.”
however
never talk about
it
and nothing much
bothers them
after
that.”
PhillyDave
“The essential doesn't change.” Beckett
"There may not be much light but it beats the darkness."
LickTheStar
Sad Flower in the Sand
The database has a link to the original, unbastardized, wording.
https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/di...=poem1990-10-04-the_way_it_is.jpg&workid=4627
PhillyDave
“The essential doesn't change.” Beckett
good catch. I often think of Bono reciting the "wrong" poem in Born Into This. Telling. And Tom Waits gets it right.
PhillyDave
“The essential doesn't change.” Beckett
we must
we must bring
our own light
to the
darkness.
nobody is going
to do it
for us.
we must bring
our own light
to the
darkness.
nobody is going
to do it
for us.
the only good poet
One retreat after another without peace.
I don't know about a favourite line, but,
"and all they know is kill, these pungent insects" (pg.147 of Days)
is a line that has often popped into my head, for some reason or another, over the years. And,
"a good young piece of ass would have solved all my rancor"
from the wonderfully titled, i wanted to overthrow the government but all i brought down was somebody's wife (pg.108 of Burning), is a line that could be applied to any number of young men bent on destruction.
"and all they know is kill, these pungent insects" (pg.147 of Days)
is a line that has often popped into my head, for some reason or another, over the years. And,
"a good young piece of ass would have solved all my rancor"
from the wonderfully titled, i wanted to overthrow the government but all i brought down was somebody's wife (pg.108 of Burning), is a line that could be applied to any number of young men bent on destruction.
I got so many favorites, but I was reading some poems today and encountered this one from "a future congressman" referring to the kid who lied about not having his dad's racing program when he had in fact put it in the toilet;
that boy was ready
for his life to come,
he would undoubtedly
be highly successful,
the lying little
prick.
that boy was ready
for his life to come,
he would undoubtedly
be highly successful,
the lying little
prick.
zobraks
Moderator
It's from The People Look Like Flowers at Last, ergo caveat lector.
the only good poet
One retreat after another without peace.
It is sad to imagine that some who arrived latterly to Bukowski would know his oeuvre through the posthumous collections.
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...there are many [philosophers] I read who I have forgotten,
perhaps properly so, but I remember one fellow who wrote an
entire book in which he proved that the moon was not there
and he did it so well that afterwards you thought, he's
absolutely right, the moon is not there.
how the hell is a young man going to deign to work an
8 hour day when the moon isn't even there?
what else
might be missing?
(from days like razors, nights full of rats)
perhaps properly so, but I remember one fellow who wrote an
entire book in which he proved that the moon was not there
and he did it so well that afterwards you thought, he's
absolutely right, the moon is not there.
how the hell is a young man going to deign to work an
8 hour day when the moon isn't even there?
what else
might be missing?
(from days like razors, nights full of rats)
"Wisdom is doing everything the crowd does not do. All you do is reverse the totality of their learning, and you have the heaven they are looking for."
"People are pointless."
"Nature is not normal."
"Pain is absurd, because it exists."
"The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it — basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them."
"People are pointless."
"Nature is not normal."
"Pain is absurd, because it exists."
"The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it — basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them."
...
you were certainly caught out of place and
time,
your marriage broken on stained
tiles
and you
being humped by a
bewhiskered jerk who was terrorized by
life, beaten by the odds, this
thing
pacing the floor, rolled wet cigarette
in monkey mouth, then
stopping to
open another bottle of cheap
wine.
dead the rivers of our lives,
hearts like rocks.
pour the red blood of wine.
curse, complain, wail, sing
in that cheap hotel room
...
(from The Glory Days, written in 1990)
you were certainly caught out of place and
time,
your marriage broken on stained
tiles
and you
being humped by a
bewhiskered jerk who was terrorized by
life, beaten by the odds, this
thing
pacing the floor, rolled wet cigarette
in monkey mouth, then
stopping to
open another bottle of cheap
wine.
dead the rivers of our lives,
hearts like rocks.
pour the red blood of wine.
curse, complain, wail, sing
in that cheap hotel room
...
(from The Glory Days, written in 1990)
Style means no shield at all.
Style means no front at all.
Style means ultimate naturalness.
Style means one man alone with billions of men about.
- - - - -
Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook
Style means no front at all.
Style means ultimate naturalness.
Style means one man alone with billions of men about.
- - - - -
Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook
thanks esart for that quote.
Reminds me of some very important truths in and about life and how to handle it. Was about time for me to get such a hint.
shoes
...
I do not understand myself,
she sends me photographs of the hospital
taken from the air
but I remember her on other nights,
not dying,
shoes with spikes like daggers
sitting next to mine;
how these strong nights become quite finally
my shoes in the closet
flown over by coats and awkard shirts,
and I look into the hole the
door leaves
and the walls, and I do not
write.
On Love.
...
I do not understand myself,
she sends me photographs of the hospital
taken from the air
but I remember her on other nights,
not dying,
shoes with spikes like daggers
sitting next to mine;
how these strong nights become quite finally
my shoes in the closet
flown over by coats and awkard shirts,
and I look into the hole the
door leaves
and the walls, and I do not
write.
On Love.
i read through all six pages of this thread... and again i will state the following line as one of my top, if not favorite lines:
"i was born to hustle roses down the avenues of the dead."
"i was born to hustle roses down the avenues of the dead."
the only good poet
One retreat after another without peace.
Interesting to note that line was used twice in the oeuvre, as a line in the poem Consummation of Grief (Mockingbird) and as the title for some disparate pieces (Crucifix, Roominghouse).
Yes! Thats how fucking awesome that line is!