Charles Bukowski (1920-1994)
"question and answer" 
	he sat naked and drunk in a room of summer
	night, running the blade of the knife
	under his fingernails, smiling, thinking
	of all the letters he had received
	telling him that
	the way he lived and wrote about
	that--
	it had kept them going when
	all seemed
	truly
	hopeless.

	putting the blade on the table, he
	flicked it with a finger
	and it whirled
	in a flashing circle
	under the light.

	who the hell is going to save                                 
	me? he
	thought.

	as the knife stopped spinning
	the answer came:
	you're going to have to
	save yourself.

	still smiling,
	a: he lit a
	cigarette
	b: he poured
	another
	drink
	c: gave the blade
	another
	spin.

--from The Last Night of the Earth Poems



Homepages, Biographies, Bibliographies

Articles, Essays

Works Online

  • "shoes"
  • "how is your heart?"
  • "i met a genius"
  • "some people"
  • "cause and effect"
  • "as the sparrow"
  • "for jane"
  • "trapped"
  • "the worst and the best"
  • "the meek shall inherit the earth"
  • "true"
  • "the history of one tough motherfucker"
  • "pull a string, a puppet moves..."
  • "I'm in love"
  • "the tragedy of the leaves"

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    Charles Bukowski at Amazon.Com

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