"Bluebird" by Charles Bukowski (poetry reading)

[bribribri56]

love the work here

[marianneotv]

très émouvant... oui, un peu envie de pleurer, avec lui et avec l'oiseau...

[russianbelt]

i don't think there is a person on this earth that could read this poem

as well as you,

now that's off my chest i can move on

to your other work

[Boinkino]

Niamhy loves this!

x

[tranvozcaya]

lucky that some time ppl say what happens in its soul.. in that world full of banal people.. 90% conversations are trivial.. lovely poem.. nice voice..

thanks to posting

[famerjake]

This is great at 6am,with a bottle or two,just has the sun is coming up

[skiddy666]

@famerjake

Nothin' better my man, sippin' on wine at 6am listening to this makes me feel alive.

[dantiumpro]

Your reading did a great poem justice, no mean feat.

I felt his regret at feeling painted in a corner, constrained by the expectations of his audience and / or his fear of departing from the tough-lovin' style that gained him notoriety in the first place.

I find 'Bluebird' a great companion to 'The Laughing Heart" where he dares to be the optimist despite himself. 'Do you?' That's what I love abt Bukowski: he wrestles w/ himself and often manages to win out, tipping us a sly wink as he goes.

[mannahaim]

THE BEST WRITTEN MONUMENT HUMAN HISTORY...

[Equinox2290]

That's my favorite poem of him... simply .. lovely.. so close, and intimate.. seems as he must be suffered.. and still..

[troupesvirtues]

that was excellent

[tranvozcaya]

Wow...

That's nice.. and hard too...

Thanks to posting those thoughts..

[TheTimeTraveler100]

This is a very good reading of Bukowski.

I like the raspy tone of voice.

Thanks for the upload.

[m8roth]

I like this poem, but I've always disliked the ending. Why, at the very end of the poem, does he suddenly turn his attention towards the reader and ask, "do you?" By asking this, Bukowski seems to be signally a discomfort with the spotlight he's turned onto himself. The question is his way of slamming the door on the revelation. His way of saying, "Stop looking at me!" The poem would pack more Bukowski defiance, had he ended it with the words "It's enough to make a man weep, but I don't weep."

[virgin4lyfe]

@m8roth by turning his attention to the audience, the poem comes full circle. For vulnerability to be expressed, there needs to be a second party involved which is us, the audience. When bukowski asks "do you", its a way to showcase his "coming back to reality", his reality being his being a bad ass, a man who doesnt indulge in emotions.

[virgin4lyfe]

@m8roth Hes also acknowledging the connection between us, the reader and him, in that we expect him to deliver on his misanthropic style every time, and he is here by asking us if we cry, so that he can get sensibility of who he is writing to, and if bluebird writing, according to them, is allowed.

[Dapperdan2009]

@m8roth I think not saying "do you?" would be totally out of tone. He needs to acknowledge that of course (i use 'of course' loosely) he weeps, and that "do you?" helps say that, and make it more clear that he does.

Also you have to recognize that Bukowski is more a burning bridge of thought type of guy: I-wrote-what-I-wrote-at-the-ti­me-and-that-was-that. He's not so much trying to make it sound a certain way. He's just saying. And the "do you" is what came to him. Truth of the moment.

[ecaffey]

@m8roth I think the ending is looking for permission, saying do you? maybe he would if the rest of us did, it's liking checking to see if he is normal.

I like the ending.

[oye2a2000]

@m8roth

I like the ending, its increase the emotional impact and a connection with the reader, allowing the reader to become part of the poem,

do u understand the poem? it has nothing to do with spotlight

[vudu8ball]

I wish Bukowski had burned this one. It panders to the sentimentalists and under cuts the great body of his work. Gives the smily face set a chance to say, "yah I read Bukowski, he's a nice guy. He's not as cynical and angry as he makes out. It's all a sham to sell books." The smiley face set wants to believe the world is a bright shinny place and Bukowski gives them this one poem that they will use to discredit his negative vision of life.

[heartsophocles]

One of the few Bukowski poems that I'm fond of. You do a marvelous job of reading him!

[MouseSouris]

"I handle my pain late at night... when everybody else is asleep" ♥

[nutherefurlong]

Happiness, sentimentality, perhaps? The narrator doesn't want to jeopardize book sales, so he must be maintaining an image, a tone, that would shatter if it got out. Vulnerability fits best if you consider the "tough" as indispensable.

You sure the quote used any of the words in your approximation?

[liz1060]

The bluebird is symbolic for happiness ... and so I had thought that the poem meant that Bukowski's secret heart was really happy, content and optimistic, in spite of his public image of jaded cynicism and pessimism. Not so much that he had a soft spot that needed protection but that he had a facade by which he made his living.

[nordicsky]

Thanks for reading Bukowski, you got the voice and the itonation spot on. I never get tired of his world weary synical poetry but I wonder if there wasn't another side to this poet... a side that occasionaly shows in poems like this.

Thanks for posting this,

Regards, Peter

[effentjes]

Love your Bukowski reading.

[thunderbolt94]

This is one of Bukowski's best poems!!!

[BigBruinekool]

Another Bukowski reading. You do a great job of these. Bukowski's my favorite. Most see him as a slacker and a drunk, but you manage to show the side of him that is as human (or more so) than any of us.