Charles Bukowski

The Artist," an ancient sage had once said, "is always sitting on the doorsteps of the rich.

nothing's news.it's the same old thing indisguise.only one thing comes without adisguise and you only see itonce, ormaybe never.like getting hit by a freighttrain.makes us realize that all ourmoaning about long lost girlsin gingham dressesis not so importantafterall.

my poems are only bits of scratchingon the floor of acage.

I see a brightportionunder the overhead lightthat shades intodarknessand then into darkerdarknessand I can't see beyond that.

I killed four flies while waiting. Damn, death was everywhere. Man, bird, beast, reptile, rodent, insect, fish didn't have a chance. The fix was in. I didn't know what to do about it. I got depressed. You know, I see a boy at the supermarket, he's packing my groceries, then I see him sticking himself into his own grave along with the toilet paper, the beer and the chicken breasts.

as long as there arehuman beings aboutthere is never going to beany peacefor any individualupon this earth (oranywhere elsethey mightescape to).all you can dois maybe grabten lucky minuteshereor maybe an hourthere.somethingis working toward youright now, andI mean youand nobody butyou.

Most so-called brave people lack imagination. As though they can__ conceive of what would happen if something went wrong. The truly brave overcome their imagination and do what they have to do. 2

Most so-called brave people lack imagination. As though they can__ conceive of what would happen if something went wrong. The truly brave overcome their imagination and do what they have to do.

the worst thing," he told me,"is bitterness, people end up sobitter.

well, death says, as he walks by, I'm going to get you anyhow no matter what you've been: writer, cab-driver, pimp, butcher, sky-diver, I'm going to get you

I think that everything should be made available to everybody, and I mean LSD, cocaine, codeine, grass, opium, the works. Nothing on earth available to any man should be confiscated and made unlawful by other men in more seemingly powerful and advantageous positions.

I can see wherecreation oftenstops while thebody still livesand oftendoes not careto.the death of lifebefore lifedies.

Dying should come easy:like a freight train youdon't hear whenyour back isturned.

I decided to stay in bed until noon. Maybe by then half the world would be dead and it would only be half as hard to take.

In the old days, before I was married, or knew a lot of women, I would just pull down all the shades and go to bed for three or four days. I'd get up to shit. I'd eat a can of beans, go back to bed, just stay there for three or four days. Then I'd put on my clothes and I'd walk outside, and the sunlight was brilliant, and the sounds were great. I felt powerful, like a recharged battery. But you know the first bring-down? The first human face I saw on the sidewalk, I lost half my charge right there.

Finally there is nothing here for death to take away.

in this land some of us fuck more than we die but most of us die better than we fuck

since some people had told me that I was ugly, I always preferred shade to the sun, darkness to light