Charles Bukowski
[ 7 June 2009 ]
nobody can save you but
yourself.
you will be put again and again
into nearly impossible
situations.
they will attempt again and again
through subterfuge, guise and
force
to make you submit, quit and/or die quietly
inside.
nobody can save you but
yourself
and it will be easy enough to fail
so very easily
but don’t, don’t, don’t.
just watch them.
listen to them.
do you want to be like that?
a faceless, mindless, heartless
being?
do you want to experience
death before death?
nobody can save you but
yourself
and you’re worth saving.
it’s a war not easily won
but if anything is worth winning then
this is it.
think about it.
think about saving your self.
Love letters & feather headdresses,
Tags: inspiration,
life Add Gala on Twitter!
this was perfect for today.
AMAZING, seriously.
Chinaski knew his shizz!
I agree with those above, amazing.
Totally LOVE his work!! I have a book of his called Tales of Ordinary Madness!! It’s a great read!!!
Also: Gala is amazing!! xoxox
I don’t typically read poetry, but Bukowski has been my favorite since high school when I did a comparative essay on two of his poems!
beautiful.
A lovely piece, and very appropriate to how I’m thinking— towards others and myself as of late.
xox
whenever i feel shitty i sit around with charlie b. & he gets it, you know?
thank you x
amen. thanks for posting this, gala. it is a much needed reminder for everyone, i think.
Thank you, I needed this :)
One of my favourites! I wrote this one in my diary for the week after my graduation:
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvellous.
the gods delight
in you.
— Charles Bukowski
thank you. i really, really needed this.
AMAZING! I’ve found this out first hand. The only person who has been able to save me has been myself. Thanks for sharing this. LOVE IT!
It’s things like this that make me love you all the more.
Oh I love Bukowski <3 I remember taking all of his books out of the library when I was about 15 and having to hide them from my mum! I have distinct memories of taking ‘War All The Time’ on holiday and reading it in secret moments away from the family. Good times.
i’m gonna stick this one onto my inspiration board. thank you so much for sharing this, gala! it neatly sums up what i should be hearing right now.
CB really did know his shit – loves it!!
Thank you for such inspiring words!
That was increible. Love it love it love it!!
I SO needed that too…been feeling all lost and fighting with my family a lot…
:P feel better now
Oh my goodness… that really hit home right now. Thank you so much Gala… amazing!
Thanks for posting this. I’ve been down about my current situation and I need to remember this poem. I’m going to keep it on my bulletin board :)
thank you, Gala :)
Oh Gala, how I love you.
I wanna marry a Virgo like you.
Or at least have a nice torrid affair.
And we’ll read Lolita and Bukowski to each other like love letters.
Sorry for the OT comment, but was the winner of the shoes ever chosen?
Lala — Yes, I emailed the winner at the time! I’ve forgotten her username but safe to say, if you didn’t get the email, you didn’t win ;D
i would love to have coffee and candy cigarettes with mr b.
and madamoiselle gala.
mmmwhat a perfect day.
WOW, like many of the other girls I really needed that. Thankyou xoxo
I loooove Bukowski, hi had this motto “don’t try” because if you just try you don’t ever actually do anything… you just spend all your life “trying” I got it tattooed a couple of weeks ago:
www.flickr.com/photos/theantag…
Oh wow, I absolutely love Bukowski. It all started when my ex gave me a copy of Post Office during a time when I absolutely hated my job and I knew then that this was not some simple fling.
Love him! Recommend: more What I Wore Today! Very inspirational, I love putting a nonpareil spin on your outfits!
Perfect.
I woke up this morning with an idea that I really love & totally think could be fabulous & transformational for a lot of people. (_partly inspired by Love & Sequins No:2_ btw!!)
And reading this made me realise that I need to follow it through.
Dream it & do it!
Thanks Gala :)
Thanks Gala!
That is awesome! I think many people can take those words to heart in some way to help them get through whatever they’re going through at any particular time.
B—your tattoo reminded me of that quote from Star Wars, “Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” Good words to live by! :D
And thanks, Gala, for a really inspiring post!
one day i told my mother he was my favorite poet and she told me she saw him read his poetry while she was in college…i’ve been jealous ever since!
“on lighting a cigar” is my favorite poem by him. alas, i can’t find it online at the moment.
miss darling, you have a knack for picking out pieces of work that are always currently related to my life. beautiful.
xxx
He’s amazing.
You both inspire me.
Great choice of poem. Thanks for that!
so true…life is what you make and nothing less…
Thanks Gala, very inspirational. I’m going to print this out and put it in my happy book. I have a notebook that’s filled with things like cupcake recipies, recipets that I got while buying shoes on sale, glitter, stupid photos and stuff … I always flick through it when I feel bad. Woo!
This is rather strange. At the moment I’ve been going through a really rough time and last night I was talking to a good friend of mine about my situation at the moment and he said something very close to this.
Thanks, honestly this has picked up my spirits. xx
Oh, man. I think lots of people needed to read this poem; and I’m just another who did. Quite simple, but right between the eyes.
I second Stephanies comment! It’s just what i needed today!
I had a serious love affair with Bukowski this Spring. Think daily trips to the library, reading poetry books back to back over coffee, and writing down entire poems in my notebook. LOVE HIM. This is a good one — he’s so inspiring if you’re not scared off by the dirt.
thankyou, i needed this too xxxx
Thankyou do much for this !
hahaha he did indeed know his good old proverbial shizz gala. loves it.
thank you!
xo
I love the quote. :)
works perfectly for my day. in fact my week, no, my month, my LIFE. today I’ve been completely miserable, crying my eyes out for being so alone, feeling like someone else should come and take care of my business. it’s been hard for me to realize I’m really on my own now (after breaking up with my boyfriend of six years almost one year ago). no one really said it’s gonna be easy. i just need to stop feeling sorry for myself NOW. so thank you Gala, this was a perfect reminder :)
Blimey that’s suupernatural timing on your part! It’s perfect for the way my week is shaping up. I’m a teacher and class observations are not my favourite thing. But I’m hanging on in there and making sure that I’m as prepared as I can be.
I really, truly love poetry, so will check Charles Bukowski out.
Oh Gala! This is what I needed. I love it!!
And by the way your blog is awesome xx
Thank you, a cupcake mountain worth of thank you
I felt suddenly relaxed when I read that. It is nice to feel relaxed, Gala! I’m extremely gracious that you posted that.
Everytime I see something of Bukowski’s I fall more in love with him. This poem is especially relavent to me today.
Hi Gala,
This is amazing…its like you are a conduit or something! I’d first gotten into your website a couple of years ago, and then for one reason or another I had forgotten about it. I was going through my old bookmarks and found it again. The last couple of weeks I had been catching up on all of it, and let me tell you, I am truly inspired by you, especially since you are a fellow Virgo, and it always seems that Virgos are portrayed as boring and lackluster, but not you !
I normally don’t buy a lot of podcasts, but I was so drawn to your description of love and sequins 2, that I had to get it. I’d been thinking about how soul-eating my job was, and needed to hear some encouragement.
Well, I bought it last week and just loved it, completely identifying with so much of what you were saying! You talked about not waiting for the “right time” to start a family or start doing what you REALLY want to do, which are both things I had been seriously thinking about. I was the only person to graduate from my school with an interdisciplinary degree in painting and animation, and I have been working at an office marketing job for a while now, worried about not having enough of a portfolio to do anything else, and no time to work on one.
Well let me tell you…you were right on about the false security of a 9 to 5 job, because the next day I got laid off! It was not expected, and I have been absolutely reeling from it, but I have a feeling deep down that its for the best and I know I can make the best of it, take some of your advice to heart about thinking what you really want to do and making a plan to do it. I’m in my early thirties, and I feel like I have some decisions to make.
Then today, to see on your site the Bukowski poem that seems like an emblem for me right now, it’s just amazing! I had not read that in a while, and I sat and read it out loud (nobody here but me, but I needed to hear it out loud!)
You truly are an inspiration and what you do is amazing in that you are following your own dreams and helping/connecting with other people all over the world at the same time. My hat’s off to you, Gala Darling!
I honestly have no idea what’s going to happen in my life, its so topsy turvy right now, but you can be sure I’ll be keeping up with all of your adventures and pearls of wisdom along the way.
All the Best,
Alexandra
Portland, Oregon
WOW WOW WOW...you have done it again gala! yet again you have introduced me to something new and exciting: Mr C Bukowski! these could be words formed from my own thoughts! reading through the comments left by people, it strikes a cord in my heart to think that there are so many sad & depressed people in our world (i can be one of those people sometimes). it shows to me that even when you think you are alone with how you think and feel, and how the world looks like a bleak place to be, and how you may think that there is no point to your life, that infact there is always light at the end of the tunnel. we have the power to choose to walk towards the light and discover the warmth, hope, gladness and strength that we can gain from people like yourself who are truly rays of sunshine! Keep up the fantastic work you do – thats right – being yourself!
I love Charles Bukowski and I think I’ll go reread Ham On Rye right now.
Hank was one of the best modern poets of the 20th century. I tried to get him to speak at my high school graduation but for some reason the principal wouldn’t allow him to bring his flask of whisky. Ham on Rye is brilliant as is Post Office!
Bukowski is such a fantastic poet; Thank you for sharing!
I love this poem! I just posted it on Lemonade Poem yesterday!
thank you for this : )
you have no clue how much i love bukowski. i never go anywhere without one of his or Kerouac’s books. ever. And you brought this one just in time! i just got home from a mini vacation to refuel my brain and whatnot and found out my ex, who thought it was a ‘nice’ thing to do to break my heart and dump me so soon after our baby died…he is now dating someone i thought was one of my best friends…and she is no longer a virgin…which was something i knew she was saving for marriage. and yes, he found it quite appropriate to rub it in my face. And he thinks karma is going to bite ME in the ass??? ha!
wow i needed that – i’ve been going through a really tough time recently, and reading that poem made me realise that i’ve kind of been waiting around and depending on my boyfriend too much to help me, and that realy, only i, can save myself and sort my head out. its made me believe i can do it by myself – as a result i am taking action and doing some things to help myself that i’ve been putting off because i didn’t think i could do them alone – i’ve never read any bukowski, but now i will seek him out!!! thanks gala!!
I love Charles Bukowski and everything that he stands for. His work really gets to the point of things, yet he is so expressive in doing so. Its brilliant. He’s brilliant.
Brilliant poem.
I know everyone has said this already, but I really needed this too. Thank you.
Fantastic!!! Been a long while since I read Bukowski, back in Bogotá when I was an adventureous life-seeking kid – thanks for the reminder… and the message that came along with it: I’m still that kid.
Bought my first Charles Bukowski book of poetry the other day, thanks to you, i’ve discovered this fantastic poet !