usually bukowski's poems come around to a place that i can understand them, see where he was going or where he was coming from. but he's got one that i can't make heads or tails of. it's called "perfect white teeth" in The People Look Like Flowers. if anybody can help me out here, i'd be interested.
A poem i don't understand (1 Viewer)
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yes and no. it still seems somehow incongruous with other things that i've read by bukowski. when he says 'son of a bitch you deserve it' i can't figure out why, or in what sense this cheesy movie dude with perfect teeth deserves poetry women and truth. my best guess it's that he's being ironic, as though poetry truth and women are not all they're cracked up to be? seeing the manuscript i thought maybe the crux of this poem is the capitalizing of Truth, and then it looks like he crossed something out, as though what the movie guy deserved was a certain kind of truth ...
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mjp
Founding member
How much Bukowski poetry have you read?
I ask sincerely, because I can't image this poem seeming incongruous or unfathomable (or recondite, perplexing or enigmatic for that matter) to anyone who has read a good amount of it.
And, not for nothing, but someone explaining a poem to you is kind of like someone explaining a joke to you. You either get it or you don't, and if you don't, the explanation is just going to ruin it for you anyway.
I understand that point of view flies in the face of hundreds of years of literary criticism and other forms of effete and bloodless scholarly murder, but it's a natural fact. Jesus told me so.
On a related note, you seem to have missed the roller coaster, but you should probably be thankful for that.
I ask sincerely, because I can't image this poem seeming incongruous or unfathomable (or recondite, perplexing or enigmatic for that matter) to anyone who has read a good amount of it.
And, not for nothing, but someone explaining a poem to you is kind of like someone explaining a joke to you. You either get it or you don't, and if you don't, the explanation is just going to ruin it for you anyway.
I understand that point of view flies in the face of hundreds of years of literary criticism and other forms of effete and bloodless scholarly murder, but it's a natural fact. Jesus told me so.
On a related note, you seem to have missed the roller coaster, but you should probably be thankful for that.
are you trying to tell me that it's inappropriate to discuss poetry on a charles bukowski forum?
they say that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear
I can only hope you aren't being serious here.
mjp
Founding member
They also say, "Every picture tells a story," and "He who fucks nuns will later join the church."
What does it mean?
i'm still missing something but i guess it's okay for me since i'm used to being able to understand fast. either way, 'perfect white teeth' is one of the more ambiguous/challenging bukowski pieces. maybe the mystique of it has to do with the fact that he was grappling with the newness of having a television? being in la, and being a writer, it seems like tv and movies would be an especially hot topic for him? just trying to see things from the authors point of view is all. not as a critiwuer, just an an exercise in empathy with a gifted soul. or maybe the mystique is just mystique and as the lovin spoonful said, it's like tryina tell a stranger bout the rock and roll.
somebody said that there was no use explaining a poem, since it would only ruin the experience of the poem for the person receiving the explanation. to me, the magic of bukowski is so broad that no amount of explaining or discussing could diminish it. but then, everybody has their own relationship with his work i guess
That somebody just doesn't want to explain to you what Bukowski means, because only Bukowski knew what Bukowski meant, and 2nd of all, that somebody probably also just thinks you're kinda thick in the area of the brain. But that somebody never implied that poetry shouldn't be discussed.
You really are working hard on this, aren't you S?
Despite the fact that you haven't really said much about the poem yet yourself .
Why not give us a comparison to a Buk-poem you DO like.
That might clear things up for you.
Put some effort in yourself before asking the net for an easy answer.
Despite the fact that you haven't really said much about the poem yet yourself .
Why not give us a comparison to a Buk-poem you DO like.
That might clear things up for you.
Put some effort in yourself before asking the net for an easy answer.
don't ask, i often HIT on many, yet i simply PASS on others, but i never ask someone ELSE what i should be thinking
AND i happen to have been reading that book last night, AND i do remember it, but i cannot tell YOU what it means (to you)
TO ME it simply meant all that pretty boy had coming to him, he deserved , AND in the alternate, what a waste a TV is
of course, i also make it a POINT to read it in the same condition the POET was in when he originally WROTE it, so my recall of it AND my reaction to it are; subject to change without notice
AND i happen to have been reading that book last night, AND i do remember it, but i cannot tell YOU what it means (to you)
TO ME it simply meant all that pretty boy had coming to him, he deserved , AND in the alternate, what a waste a TV is
of course, i also make it a POINT to read it in the same condition the POET was in when he originally WROTE it, so my recall of it AND my reaction to it are; subject to change without notice
