"Hell is a Lonely Place" by Charles Bukowski (poetry reading)

Diaper is more commonly pronounced as two-syllables these days, but older people are more likely to pronounce as three syllables. I didn't actually know this until my wife said she pronounced it differently. This is just the sort of peccadillo that disproportionately irritates some people (including me) so I apologise for it.
http://www.adisc.org/forum/diaper-talk/19427-pronunciation-word-diaper.html

The painting is an example of "metamorphic style" by Octavio Ocampo. It shows an an old couple or a young one depending on how your mind interprets what your eyes see.

he was 65, his wife was 66, had
Alzheimer's disease.

he had cancer of the
mouth.
there were
operations, radiation
treatments
which decayed the bones in his jaw
which then had to be
wired.

daily he put his wife in
rubber diapers
like a baby.

unable to drive in his
condition
he had to take a taxi to
the medical
center,
had difficulty speaking,
had to
write the directions down.

on his last visit
they informed him
there would be another
operation: a bit more
left
cheek and a bit more
tongue.

when he returned
he changed his wife's
diapers
put on the tv
dinners, watched the
evening news
then went to the bedroom, got the
gun, put it to her
temple, fired.

she fell to the
left, he sat upon the
couch
put the gun into his
mouth, pulled the
trigger.

the shots didn't arouse
the neighbors.

later
the burning tv dinners
did.

somebody arrived, pushed
the door open, saw
it.

soon
the police arrived and
went through their
routine, found
some items:

a closed savings
account and
a checkbook with a
balance of
$1.14

suicide, they
deduced.

in three weeks
there were two
new tenants:
a computer engineer
named
Ross
and his wife
Anatana
who studied
ballet.

they looked like another
upwardly mobile
pair.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Hell
• is
• Lonely
• Place
• Charles
• Bukowski
• poem
• poetry

[thesuntheneonlight]

What is the narrarators name? I love his voice especially when he speaks in the poem bluebird, and now I cannot find it.

[SpokenVerse]

@thesuntheneonlight Everything in this channel is read by me, Tom O'Bedlam. I hope you will listen to a few more.

[TheTissueguy]

GREAT POEM !!! WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE PICTURE OF THE TWO ELDERLY FOLKS AT THE BEGINNING AND THE END?

[mavarek666]

I may have to mirror this, because if this disappears from Youtube, I will be upset.

[LesterShane]

Beautiful reading. I didn't know the poem. Thanks.

[Tom93M]

Cuts to the bone. The last line strikes me; "they looked like another upwardly mobile pair". There's an air of cynicism to it, as if to suggest that although they might "look" like a bright-futured couple, their gloomy fate is already sealed.

[hkdancergl]

Excellent reading. Gave me chills.

[keyfeatures]

this is so grim it has made me cry laughing. Time to get out of bed.

[teamsleep24]

that is POWERFUL ...

[lovepeacepoetry]

absolutely beautiful. stunning. reading.

this is my husband and i. but hell is also a beautiful place.