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Fri 23 Feb, 2007 01:27 am
Dinosauria, We
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.
Amigo--
Where did you come across this author? He interests me.
Noddy24 wrote:Amigo--
Where did you come across this author? He interests me.
He was one of those beat era poets (and a drunken one at that) here we have him discussing (in poetry form) the author Carson McCullers:
Carson McCullers
she died of alcoholism
wrapped in a blanket
on a deck chair
on an ocean
steamer.
all her books of
terrified loneliness
all her books about
the cruelty
of loveless love
were all that was left
of her
as the strolling vacationer
discovered her body
notified the captain
and she was quickly dispatched
to somewhere else
on the ship
as everything
continued just
as
she had written it
Anway, Bukowski died on this day in 1994.
Learn more at
Bukoswki.net
I have the rubbing from Bukowski's tombstone on my wall.
Framed, of course.
Yes, I'm sure you do (Gus, why am I not at all surprised by this?).
And you are quite welcome Noddy.
Noddy24 wrote:Amigo--
Where did you come across this author? He interests me.
He was very big in the sub culture when I found him about 15 years ago. He is very good. Start with "ham On rye" it is suposed to be his best. I dissagre that he is a beat writer. I beleive him to be an alternative to the beat writers.
gustavratzenhofer wrote:I have the rubbing from Bukowski's tombstone on my wall.
Framed, of course.
So you have been to san Pedro?
My word, Amigo. I thought that you had disappeared through a crack in the San Andreas.
Not familiar with Bukowski, but glad to know that you are all right.
Thank you Letty. I hope you are doing well too.
How did I miss this thread. I love Bukowski. I saw a documentary about him a couple years ago. He was a mean old bastard. I like that.
Was that the "Dinosauria we" documentary? I'm sure you have also seen "Barfly". I notice all working class people with genuine character Like Bukowski.
Spent a solid week last year crapulating at a beach bar and reading Bukowski. Post Office, Factotum, some stories.
Wonderful.
The documentary I saw was called Born Into This.
I read Post Office too, P-Dog. I liked it. I like his poetry better though for some reason.
One thing about Bukowski that alot of "intellectuals" don't like to admit to is that he entertains you with a kind of vice....pulp. "VICEPULP" I just made that up.
I like the story were all the bums get together and start a bum army and start marching down the street. Can you imagine being at work and seeing a bum army walking down the street. I'd drop my tool bag and get in with them!
Kicky, That's right "born into this" I have to see that.
"For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."
- Charles Bukowski
SHE SAID
from: War All the Time
what are you doing with all those paper
napkins in your car?
we dont have napkins like
that
how come your car radio is
always turned to some
rock and roll station?do you drive around with
some
young thing?
you're
dripping tangerine
juice on the floor.
whenever you go into
the kitchen
this towel gets
wet and dirty,
why is that?
when you let my
bathwater run
you never
clean the
tub first.
why don't you
put your toothbrush
back
in the rack?
you should always
dry your razor
sometimes
I think
you hate
my cat.
Martha says
you were
downstairs
sitting with her
and you
had your
pants off.
you shouldn't wear
those
$100 shoes in
the garden
and you don't keep
track
of what you
plant out there
that's
dumb
you must always
set the cat's bowl back
in
the same place.
don't
bake fish
in a frying
pan...
I never saw
anybody
harder on the
brakes of their
car
than you.
let's go
to a
movie.
listen what's
wrong with you?
you act
depressed.
I like Bukowski allright. Not passionately, just lukewarmly. But I do like him. I like the Bukowski pub that is here in Inman Square (and another one downtown) even more. They have hundreds of kinds of beers, barfly burgers, and a wall with excerpts from Bukowski's prose and poetry and some paintings...
I like his prose far more than poetry. I think he's mostly for boys (just like there are chick flicks, there is also macho writing... not always a bad thing, either of them). I 'get it', but I don't 'need it'... while there is literature that I do 'need' - which is naturally personal to everybody.
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