Come On In! Quotes

“unaccountably we are alone
forever alone
and it was meant to be
that way,
it was never meant
to be any other way–
and when the death struggle
begins
the last thing I wish to see
is
a ring of human faces
hovering over me–
better just my old friends,
the walls of my self,
let only them be there.

I have been alone but seldom
lonely.
I have satisfied my thirst
at the well
of my self
and that wine was good,
the best I ever had,
and tonight
sitting
staring into the dark
I now finally understand
the dark and the
light and everything
in between.

peace of mind and heart
arrives
when we accept what
is:
having been
born into this
strange life
we must accept
the wasted gamble of our
days
and take some satisfaction in
the pleasure of
leaving it all
behind.

cry not for me.

grieve not for me.

read
what I’ve written
then
forget it
all.

drink from the well
of your self
and begin
again.

Mind and Heart”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“you are alone, Chinaski, and below the stage the seats are empty. the theatre is dark. why do you keep acting? what a bad habit.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“restless days and sleepless nights
always fighting
with all your heart and soul
so as not to fail at living”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“Alone Again"

I think of each of
them
living somewhere else
sitting somewhere else
standing somewhere else
sleeping somewhere else
or maybe feeding a
child
or
reading a
newspaper or screaming
at their
new man…

but thankfully
my female past
(for me)
has concluded
peacefully.

yet most others seem to
believe that a
new relationship will certainly
work.

that the last one
was simply the
error of
choosing a bad
mate.

just
bad taste
bad luck
bad fate.

and then there are some who
believe that old
relationships can be
revived and made new
again.

but please
if you feel that way
don’t phone
don’t write
don’t arrive

and meanwhile,
don’t feel bruised because this
poem will last much
longer than we
did.

it deserves to:
you see
its strength is
that it seeks
no
mate at
all.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“E poi ci sono quelli che
credono che le vecchie relazioni
possano essere rivissute e
fatte nuove.

Ma perfavore
se ti senti in quel modo

non chiamare
non scrivere
non arrivare...”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“as you are stuck in your poor body and in your poor life and it’s all slowly dissolving, dissolving into nothing. like all the other bodies, like all the other lives, we all are being counted out, taken down by disease by just being rubbed up against the hard days, the harder years. there’s no escaping this, we just have to take it, accept it— or like most— not think about it. at all.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“too much acceptance destroys. so listen, my fine fellows and ladies, I am going to ignore your late applause, I intend to still play it loose, commit my errors, enrage the entrenched and piss upon your guardians, angels and / or devils. I intend to do what I have to do, what I have always done. it’s been too much fun to falter now.  you will not escape my iron grip and I will escape yours.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“I think good poetry should startle, shatter and, yes, entertain while getting as close to the truth as possible. I can get all the comfort I need from a good cigar.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“do you drink because you are afraid of life? the interviewer asked. disgusted with life is more like it, said the writer, and with you.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“gender benders I’m only guessing, of course, as usual but here goes: when the ladies gather over cocktails they talk about how their husbands tend to stifle them, smother their creative instinct, their natural joy, their ultimate female selves. without their husbands they would float free and thrive and grow without limit as they were meant to do.  but ladies, I will tell you this: when men gather they never talk about their wives. we discuss the Dallas Cowboys or the new barmaid at The Bat Cove Tavern or about how Tyson would kick Holyfield’s ass …  unconcerned with petty argument we have floated free … giant macho soaring balloons! WHEE!”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“then came the manual typewriter. then the electric typer. and now this. it’s as if I have been reborn.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“I feel like an old man. hell, I am an old man.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“also, the oldest notion still in vogue is that if you can’t understand a poem then it almost certainly is a good one.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“the best poems it seems to me are written out of an ultimate need. and once the poem is written, the only need after that is to write another.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“that they could imagine that I’d want to converse with them at 7 a.m. is an insult to whatever intelligent life is left in our dwindling universe.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“they tell you to give up cigarettes and booze, and then they tell you that you have 25 more good years ahead of you and then perhaps ten more years to enjoy your old age as you suck on the rewards and memories.”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems

“Now that time seems all mine
and no one calls me for lunch or dinner,
now that I can stay to watch
how a cloud loosens and loses its colour,
how a cat walks on the roof
in the immense luxury of a prowl, now
that what waits for me every day
is the unlimited length of a night
where there is no call and no longer a reason
to undress in a hurry to rest inside
the blinding sweetness of a body that waits for me,
now that the morning never has a beginning
and silently leaves me to my plans,
to all the cadences of voice,
now suddenly I would like prison”
― Charles Bukowski, Come On In!: New Poems