vodka
Miss Take
There is much attention paid to the womanizing, gambling and drinking ways of Charles Bukowski, but I find love as a theme running throughout his writing tends to be largely ignored.
Some of Bukowski's love poems are as striking, if not more, than anything I have read by poets who are known for their mastery of the topic. And any poet knows love is the hardest fucking subject to write well.
For example:
What do you think of the Bukowski's poetry which speaks of love or often the lack of it? Do you think it gets less attention than the other subjects he writes about? If so, why? Of the women he chose to love - why do you think he chose them? Or do you think he loved them because they chose him?
A long time ago, a friend of mine asked me, knowing how much a fan I am, if I would have had sex with Charles Bukowski. Years later, I still am not able to come up with an answer to that question, however I do know that while reading Bukowski I have fallen in love with him several times over.
vodka
Some of Bukowski's love poems are as striking, if not more, than anything I have read by poets who are known for their mastery of the topic. And any poet knows love is the hardest fucking subject to write well.
For example:
For Jane: With all the Love I Had, Which Was Not Enough
I pick up the skirt,
I pick up the sparkling beads
in black,
this thing that moved once
around flesh,
and I call God a liar,
I say anything that moved
like that
or knew
my name
could never die
in the common verity of dying,
and I pick
up her lovely
dress,
all her loveliness gone,
and I speak to all the gods,
Jewish gods, Christ-gods,
chips of blinking things,
idols, pills, bread,
fathoms, risks,
knowledgeable surrender,
rats in the gravy of two gone quite mad
without a chance,
hummingbird knowledge, hummingbird chance,
I lean upon this,
I lean on all of this
and I know
her dress upon my arm
but
they will not
give her back to me.
What do you think of the Bukowski's poetry which speaks of love or often the lack of it? Do you think it gets less attention than the other subjects he writes about? If so, why? Of the women he chose to love - why do you think he chose them? Or do you think he loved them because they chose him?
A long time ago, a friend of mine asked me, knowing how much a fan I am, if I would have had sex with Charles Bukowski. Years later, I still am not able to come up with an answer to that question, however I do know that while reading Bukowski I have fallen in love with him several times over.
vodka