Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowskiwas an American poet, novelist, and short story writer...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth16 August 1920
CityAndernach, Germany
CountryUnited States of America
grapes
It's just that the grape has me down.
fiction improvement
Fiction is an improvement on life
shadow rooms hours
in this room the hours of love still make shadows.
mad stills scrap
It is possible to be truly mad and to still exist upon scraps of life.
quitting left
The wisdom to quit is all we have left.
alcohol glorious drinkers
There was nothing glorious about the life of a drinker or the life of a writer.
tired effort enough
I'm too careless. I don't put out enough effort. I'm tired.
dog looks sandwiches
The dog approached again, cautiously. I found the bologna sandwich, ripped off a chunk, wiped the cheap watery mustard off, then placed it on the sidewalk. The dog walked up to the bit of sandwich, put his nose to it, sniffed, then turned and walked off. This time he didn't look back. He accelerated down the street. No wonder I had been depressed all my life. I wasn't getting proper nourishment.
mother two three
my mother, poor fish, wanting to be happy, beaten two or three times a week, telling me to be happy: "Henry, smile! why don't you ever smile?" and then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the saddest smile I ever saw
laughter feet laughing
my 6 foot goddess makes me laugh the laughter of the mutilated who still need love... she has saved me from everything that is not here
guy lucky blame
I can't blame her. but wonder why she's here with me? where are the other guys? how can you be lucky? having someone the others have abandoned?
thinking young dies
young or old, good or bad, I don't think anything dies as slow and as hard as a writer.
hands jail contentment
They looked as if nothing had ever touched them--all well-mothered, protected, with a soft sheen of contentment. None of them had ever been in jail, or worked hard with their hands, or even gotten a traffic ticket. Skimmed-milk jollies, the whole bunch.
strong-women soul good-woman
And yet women-good women--frightened me because they eventually wanted your soul, and what was left of mine, I wanted to keep.