Poem in the Manner of Charles Bukowski [by David Lehman]

You do what you want,
I’ll do what I want,
and we’ll see which one of us
gets to the twenty-dollar window
in time for the fourth race at Del Mar.

On the goddamn radio
that’s always playing
in my bitch’s kitchen,
I heard some East Coast big-shot author
say he needs to jerk off before he can write.
All is I can say is fuck that shit.

I hate poets who beg you
to like them because you feel sorry for them.
Do not feel sorry for me.
I won on Bitches’ Brew in the fourth
and went home and drank
a fifth of bourbon
and got laid.

 -- David Lehman

Comments

[Karin]

Well, alright, then, lol. I totally thought I was reading Bukowski even though I knew I wasn't. Was great!

[The Best American Poetry]

Thank you, Karin. -- DL