"The Secret of My Endurance" by Charles Bukowski (poetry reading)

He's kidding you - but not much.

I still get letters in the mail, mostly from cracked-up
men in tiny rooms with factory jobs or no jobs who are
living with whores or no woman at all, no hope, just
booze and madness.
Most of their letters are on lined paper
written with an unsharpened pencil
or in ink
in tiny handwriting that slants to the
left

and the paper is often torn
usually halfway up the middle
and they say they like my stuff,
I've written from where it's at, and
they recognize that. truly, I've given them a second
chance, some recognition of where they're at.

it's true, I was there, worse off than most
of them.
but I wonder if they realize where their letters
arrive?
well, they are dropped into a box
behind a six-foot hedge with a long driveway leading
to a two car garage, rose garden, fruit trees,
animals, a beautiful woman, mortgage about half
paid after a year, a new car,
fireplace with a green rug two-inches thick
with a young boy to write my stuff now,
I keep him in a ten-foot cage with a
typewriter, feed him whiskey and raw whores,
belt him pretty good three or four times
a week.

I'm 59 years old now and the critics say
my stuff is getting better than ever.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Secret
• of
• My
• Endurance
• Charles
• Bukowski
• poetry
• poem

[spurcheck]

i came back for a second reading

it was way better than the first time

thru, as my head was screwed on straight for this one

[sonofwalt]

Probably one of my favorites from this poet with whom I have something of a love/ hate relationship with his work. Your tone is perfect here, reserved playful irony.

[hax0r16]

Quite good poem and perfect reader.

[agrlfmtx]

Can't wait till I am 59 years old so that my stuff will be "better than ever"....looking forward to it....BUT, was the sercret of his endurance.....an average life? hmmmm?

Average except for the young boy that he fed whiskey and whores to! LOL

Loved this one! T:)

[jonno52]

Not quite expecting that! Thank you Tom.

[Sapientian]

Well that certainly made me raise an eyebrow.I loved it! :)

[colourmegone]

Really did Laugh Out Loud!

[FloresDeLaPrimavera]

Thank you for your wonderful poetry readings. This is one of your best!

[imlippy75]

Brilliant :)

[1awareness]

wow!