Roll the Dice
if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
otherwise, don’t even start.
if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.
go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery, isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your endurance,
of how much you really want to do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else you can imagine.
if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with fire.
do it,
do it,
do it,
do it.
all the way,
all the way.
you will ride life straight
to perfect laughter,
it’s the only good fight there is.
©Charles Bukowski, Love is a Dog From Hell
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Not a Bukowski fan, this was however a good one. My one fave of his is Bluebird.
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I love Bluebird too! Have you read his Air and Light and Time and Space?
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Sorry no I haven’t.
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You can read it here…
Air and Light and Time and Space
-you know, I’ve either had a family, a job,
something has always been in the way
but now
I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this
place, a large studio, you should see the space and
the light.
for the first time in my life I’m going to have
a place and the time to
create.”
no baby, if you’re going to create
you’re going to create whether you work
16 hours a day in a coal mine
or
you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children
while you’re on welfare,
you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown away,
you’re going to create blind
crippled,
demented,
you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your
back while
the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,
flood and fire.
baby, air and light and time and space
have nothing to do with it
and don’t create anything
except maybe a longer life to find
new excuses for.
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one of the best poems ever to be written..
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It is! 🙌
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