Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Flophouse

you haven't liveduntil you've been in aflophousewith nothing but onelight bulband 56 mensqueezed togetheron cotswith everybodysnoringat onceand some..

© Charles Bukowski

Decline

naked along the side of the house,8 a.m., spreading sesame seed oilover my body, Jesus, have I cometo this?I once battled in dark alleys for..

© Charles Bukowski

About My Very Tortured Friend, Peter

he lives in a house with a swimming pooland says the job iskilling him.he is 27. I am 44. I can’t seem toget rid ofhim. his novels keep comingback...

© Charles Bukowski

Freedom

he drank wine all night of the28th, and he kept thinking of her:the way she walked and talked and lovedthe way she told him things that seemed..

© Charles Bukowski

For Jane: With All The Love I Had, Which Was Not Enough:

I pick up the skirt,I pick up the sparkling beadsin black,this thing that moved oncearound flesh,and I call God a liar,I say anything that movedlike..

© Charles Bukowski

Oh Yes

there are worse things thanbeing alonebut it often takes decadesto realize thisand most oftenwhen you doit's too lateand there's nothing worsethantoo..

© Charles Bukowski

I Met A Genius

I met a genius on the traintodayabout 6 years old,he sat beside meand as the trainran down along the coastwe came to the oceanand then he looked at..

© Charles Bukowski

Pull A String, A Puppet Moves

each man must realizethat it can all disappear veryquickly:the cat, the woman, the job,the front tire,the bed, the walls, theroom; all our..

© Charles Bukowski

16-Bit Intel 8088 Chip

with an Apple Macintoshyou can't run Radio Shack programsin its disc drive.nor can a Commodore 64drive read a fileyou have created on anIBM Personal..

© Charles Bukowski

8 Count

from my bedI watch3 birdson a telephonewire.one fliesoff.thenanother.one is left,thenit toois gone.my typewriter istombstonestill.and I amreduced to..

© Charles Bukowski

Friends Within The Darkness

I can remember starving in asmall room in a strange cityshades pulled down, listening toclassical musicI was young I was so young it hurt like a..

© Charles Bukowski

For Jane

225 days under grassand you know more than I.they have long taken your blood,you are a dry stick in a basket.is this how it works?in this roomthe..

© Charles Bukowski

Yes Yes

when God created love he didn't help mostwhen God created dogs He didn't help dogswhen God created plants that was averagewhen God created hate we..

© Charles Bukowski

Eat Your Heart Out

I've come by, she says, to tell youthat this is it. I'm not kidding, it'sover. this is it.I sit on the couch watching her arrangeher long red hair..

© Charles Bukowski

Curtain

the final curtain on one of the longest runningmusicals ever, some people claim to haveseen it over one hundred times.I saw it on the tv news, that..

© Charles Bukowski

Death Wants More Death

death wants more death, and its webs are full:I remember my father's garage, how child-likeI would brush the corpses of fliesfrom the windows they..

© Charles Bukowski

Finish

We are like roses that have never bothered tobloom when we should have bloomed andit is as ifthe sun has become disgusted withwaiting

© Charles Bukowski

Eulogy To A Hell Of A Dame

some dogs who sleep At nightmust dream of bonesand I remember your bonesin fleshand bestin that dark green dressand those high-heeled brightblack..

© Charles Bukowski

Girl In A Miniskirt Reading The Bible Outside My Window

Sunday, I am eating agrapefruit, church is over at the RussianOrthadox to thewest.she is darkof Eastern descent,large brown eyes look up from the..

© Charles Bukowski

Cows In Art Class

good weatheris likegood women-it doesn't always happenand when it doesit doesn'talways last.man ismore stable:if he's badthere's more chancehe'll..

© Charles Bukowski

Raw With Love

little dark girl withkind eyeswhen it comes time touse the knifeI won't flinch andI won't blameyou,as I drive along the shore aloneas the palms..

© Charles Bukowski

2 Flies

The flies are angry bits of life;why are they so angry?it seems they want more,it seems almost as if theyare angrythat they are flies;it is not my..

© Charles Bukowski

To The Whore Who Took My Poems

some say we should keep personal remorse from thepoem,stay abstract, and there is some reason in this,but jezus;twelve poems gone and I don't keep..

© Charles Bukowski

Close To Greatness

at one stage in my lifeI met a man who claimed to havevisited Pound at St. Elizabeths.then I met a woman who not onlyclaimed to have visitedE.P.but..

© Charles Bukowski

Big Night On The Town

drunk on the dark streets of some city,it's night, you're lost, where's yourroom?you enter a bar to find yourself,order scotch and water.damned bar's..

© Charles Bukowski