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ONE OF THOSE� ����� |
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��By Charles Bukowski |
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Sartre was some fellow, oh yes, |
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he showed us the bone of |
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Nowhere and shook it in |
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our face. |
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the choice |
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is yours, |
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he said, |
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morals died with God |
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you're on your own, |
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every now and then |
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during the passing centuries |
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some giant among men arises |
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shakes us truly |
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shocks us out of our sleep |
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so that, at least for a |
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time, we become aware, |
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renewed |
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as we put on our shoes in |
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the morning |
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as we trundle through our tasks |
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as we eat |
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defecate |
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imagine love |
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mail letters |
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drive and walk the |
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city |
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things and thoughts |
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assume different shapes |
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Sartre was one of those |
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giants |
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Paris, France, much of the |
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world |
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rumbled and bounced |
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because of |
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him |
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without some like him |
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putting your shoes on in |
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the morning |
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would become so difficult |
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as to be almost |
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imposible |
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Jean Paul |
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thanks |
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for |
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everything |
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HOW TO GET RID OF PURISTS |
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� by Charles Bukowski |
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several months ago i was sent some tapes |
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by a musician who had put several of |
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my poems to music. |
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he professed much interest in my |
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poesy. |
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I played the tapes on the way to the track |
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and back. |
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very classical (and I am a classical muci |
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freak) |
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but the overall tone of the work was |
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I felt |
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tinged with intellectual |
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elitism--the pretentious sporano voices and the |
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general presentation |
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I was both abashed and honoured that |
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the composer had lent so much effort and |
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musical learning to my work. |
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at the same time I felt that the overall |
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effect was anti-life, anti-me, anti-the- |
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clarity of directly seeking joy, pain, |
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anything reasonable or |
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sufficient. |
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it was thesame old con, the same ol |
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snobbism, the same old murderous kill |
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of death clothed in a creative act. |
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so I wrote the gentleman back, "you know, |
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I have certain problems, one of them |
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being with instruments, |
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some instruments which I dislike |
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are the piano, the violin and the soprano |
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voice, especially the latter. |
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the human voices besides being basically ugly also reminds me of the human |
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race |
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and one of the last things I want to |
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think of and one of the first things I |
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want to get away from when I listen to |
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classical music is |
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the human |
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race. |
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I write for the same reason. |
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is it possible that you can rewrite this |
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whole thing |
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without using the above-mentioned |
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instruments? |
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I haven't heard from this composer |
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since. |
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which is part of my plan. |
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the other part being to antagonize, |
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deplete, expose and shame |
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the thousands of practitioners of |
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the arts in all of their forms |
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who have been subsidized by |
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snobbery. dullness, and the willful |
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push toward fame |
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which has left us with |
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centuries of accepted |
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and immensely admired |
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works of |
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art of |
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which |
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all too many |
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are surely |
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useless, |
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worthless, |
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fake |
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and so supremely boring |
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that we think that |
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they certainly must be |
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something |
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real. |
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