Saturday, June 28, 2008

Bluebird by Charles Bukowski

"Bluebird"

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pur whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?
-Charles Bukowski

3 comments:

Natasha said...

This is my favorite Bukowski poem... do you generally enjoy his work, or is this just a one off?

TheFLy said...

Oh yes, I really like his work. I find his descriptions to be raw and real, very personal. He's one of my favorite poets.

Anonymous said...

This is a great poem. Bukowski poetry has such a great way about it.