[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmWZOsVtqR0&w=420&h=315]
Bluebird
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I’m not going
to let anybody see
you.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he’s
in there.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody’s asleep.
I say, I know that you’re there,
so don’t be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he’s singing a little
in there, I haven’t quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it’s nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don’t
weep, do
you?
From Charles Bukowski’s book “The Last Night of Earth Poems”
(c) Charles Bukowski
This post led me to read a page of quotes by Bukowski.
Then I forwarded them to my son saying (in part),
“Oddly, as depressing as the quotes are, they are uplifting because he’s a thinking person.
I like people who are thinking.”
Thanks for sending me on this Bukowski journey, which was not unlike sludging through muck and mire as thunderclouds wreak havoc overhead!
I know Bukowski can be kind of dark, but I like to see this particular poem as kind of uplifting. The idea that there is this little singing bluebird inside each of us that still sings despite how much whiskey we try to drown it in or how much we try to hide it away. I really like this one because of that.
Hey, thanks for swinging by my blog. ‘Bluebird’ is definitely thought provoking…
Fabulous poetry
Yeah, Bukowski is wonderful.
“you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?”
this one made me laugh out hard. thank you for sharing.
We all have those little parts of ourselves we don’t want anyone else to see. I enjoyed your poem.
It’s not my poem. It’s by Charles Bukowski. I just really liked it and wanted to share!
Ooh, well, I enjoyed Charles’ poem.
a great poem it is! great pictures and this subtle humor… 🙂
this I like too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVpRagYhM0I 😉
[…] Bukowski would sleep with night after night but never cried about—only acknowledged that little blue bird of feeling and spirit while thrusting it out of sight in the light of […]
Thanks for posting this! Very thought provoking…what am I trying to hide in some self destructive way! Shouldn’t I let it out?
Poetry. Real poetry. And thanks for the like …