Charles Bukowski: "helping the old"

I was standing in line at the bank today

when the old fellow in front of me

dropped his glasses (luckily, within the

case)

and as he bent over

I saw how difficult it was for

him

and I said, “wait, let me get

them. . . “

but as I picked them up

he dropped his cane

a beautiful, black polished

cane

and I got the glasses back to him

then went for the cane

steadying the old boy

as I handed him his cane.

he didn’t speak,

he just smiled at me.

then he turned

forward.

I stood behind him waiting

my turn.

"helping the old" by Charles Bukowski, from You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense (HarperCollins, 2002). Text as posted on Poeticous.

 Art credit: "Hand of senior man leaning on walking stick," photograph by AdStock RF.

Charles Bukowski: "my cats"

I know. I know.

they are limited, have different

needs and

concerns.

but I watch and learn from them.

I like the little they know,

which is so

much.

they complain but never

worry,

they walk with a surprising dignity.

they sleep with a direct simplicity that

humans just can’t

understand.

their eyes are more

beautiful than our eyes.

and they can sleep 20 hours

a day

without

hesitation or

remorse.

when I am feeling

low

all I have to do is

watch my cats

and my

courage

returns.

I study these

creatures.

they are my

teachers.

"my cats" by Charles Bukowski, from The Pleasures of the Damned: Poems, 1951-1993 (Ecco, 2008).
 
Art credit: The poet and one of his cats, by unknown photographer.

Quoting Bukowski, who at one point had nine cats: “Having a bunch of cats around is good. If you’re feeling bad, you just look at the cats, you’ll feel better, because they know everything is, just as it is. There’s nothing to get excited about. They just know. They’re saviors. The more cats you have, the longer you live. If you have a hundred cats, you’ll live ten times longer than if you have ten. Someday this will be discovered, and people will have a thousand cats and live forever. It’s truly ridiculous.”

Charles Bukowski: "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 a 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.

"The Laughing Heart" by Charles Bukowski, from Betting on the Muse. © Ecco, 2002.

Photography credit: Unknown (originally black and white).



 

Charles Bukowski: "a song with no end"

when Whitman wrote, "I sing the body electric"

I know what he
meant
I know what he
wanted:

to be completely alive every moment
in spite of the inevitable.

we can't cheat death but we can make it
work so hard
that when it does take
us

it will have known a victory just as
perfect as
ours.

"a song with no end" by Charles Bukowski, from The Night Torn with Made Footsteps. © Black Sparrow Press, 2001.

Image credit: Unknown (originally color).