Don't Try - what would/will your epitaph be? (1 Viewer)

O

Ona Nizm

I have no idea. Just would like to hear some witty, inventive ones. Have you heard or seen any unique ones.

On second thoughts: "I HAD NO IDEA"
 
What about "Here rots...", instead of "Here rests..." or "This piece of the lawn is fertilized by..." :)
 
Did you hear the one about Mozart - a few days after his burial, eerie sounds can be heard coming from his grave. People are frightened and the Mayor is summoned. He presses his ear to the newly earthed sod and listens intently. After a while he stands and says to the crowd: "Nothing to worry about folks, it's just Mozart decomposing."

Yeah, I know.
 
The comedian W.C.Fields came from Philadelphia and he hated the city. He suggested that his epitaph should read: "All in all, I would rather be in Philadelphia." ...

btw, I tried googling "funny epitaphs". I got 185 000 hits!
 
What about some Buk titles as epitaphs:
"Come on in", "Sunlight Here I Am", "You Get So Alone", "Bone Palace", "South Of No North", "Laughing With The Gods"...:)
 
adrian said:
I only recently read where Bukowski's "don't try" came from :eek: For ages I wondered why he'd have "dont try" along with a boxer's torso
Click to expand...

I'm still wondering. Please enlighten me!
 
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It apparently was a reference to his entry in 'Who's Who'. Most of the other new nominees gave long rambling speeches about how honoured they were to be included on such a prestigious list. Bukowski's response apparently was "don't try" :D
 
Indeed it was. I remember that, but had'nt he used that quote many times before it was printed in Who's Who? Maybe I better watch BIT again and see what Linda B. has to say about it. I still have'nt figured out the boxer's torso on the gravestone. Of course, we know that Buk was fond of boxing especially in his younger days where he used to go to the matches...
 
I saw Linda explain the "don't try" thing in the extras on Born Into This

Re the boxing - I don't think he was a great barroom fighter himself (by his own admission he wasn't that good, although I suspect the outcome of the fights were largely irrelevantt. IMO it was a great release for him.....perhaps the Buk should be credited for the fightclub phenomenon we see today?)

His love of boxing is obvious as it appears in a fair few of his writings
 
I don't think too much. The less you think, the more you know. One time, somebody asked me what's the secret to typing, and I told them, "don't try". That's the secret to everything: don't try,
Click to expand...
Hustler interview, 1976.
 
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Thanks, mjp and cirerita!
So the quote goes back to 1976 - at least.
I wonder what year he was accepted into Who's Who. Perhaps in the eighties. Anyhow, the quote dates back to before his Who's Who acceptance.
But the boxer is still a bit of a puzzle. Did he really like boxing matches so much that he wanted a boxer on his gravestone? Or was it Linda B's idea? Hmmm...
 
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there are a couple of quotes from the late 60's / early 70's re. the "don't try" motto. can't find them now, so here's a little something re. boxing instead.

boxing1.jpg


boxing2.jpg
 
Thanks, c...! I guess it's fairly safe to say that the boxer on his gravestone is due to his interest in boxing...
 
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adrian said:
It apparently was a reference to his entry in 'Who's Who'. Most of the other new nominees gave long rambling speeches about how honoured they were to be included on such a prestigious list. Bukowski's response apparently was "don't try" :D
Click to expand...

There is a passage re. "don't try" in the Erections, etc., collection of short stories. From the story "A Lovely, Love Affair":

"I didn't want to play with what was left of the 5th, so I sat in the kitchen, naked, wondering, how can people trust me so? Who was I? People were crazy, people were simple. That gave me an edge. Hell yes, it did. I'd lived for ten years without a trade. People gave me money, food, places to stay. Whether they thought I was an idiot or a genius, that didn't matter. I knew what I was. I was neither. What made people give me gifts didn't concern me. I took the gifts and I took them without a feeling of victory or/and coercion. My only premise was that I couldn't ask for anything. On top of it all, I rather had this phonograph record spinning around on top of my brain and it kept playing the same tune: don't try don't try. It seemed like an all right idea."
 
I like the reference to "this phonograph record spinning around on top of my brain"

It reminds me of a bit in the Shroeder tapes where he's talking about not really enjoying anyone's company. He then goes on about people going round and round in circles, then says "you're all flat pancake mamas with syrup spread all over your heads" :D
 

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