Robert McDowell: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Pissed at Bukowski

 

I woke up at 2 a.m. pissed at Bukowski.

I rolled over half expecting to find him there

Snorting with his deviated septum,

Farting louder than the floor fan,

 

And if I had I would have killed him.

But the bed was empty except for me,

And I remembered that the poor old guy

Was already dead. I thought of his smell,

 

Then, not now, and almost made myself

Sick with it—that old man stink. Of course,

Bukowski smelled like an old man in his crib.

He got a head start in the stink game.

 

Don’t cringe when you read this.

Bukowski wouldn’t. He loved talking about

Smells, the fouler the better.

He didn’t believe in limits and gardenias.

 

He loved his women insulting, stinging,

With beer breath and a three-day stink

All over them. In a dark bar

He always took the back booth,

 

The smelly one next to the john. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Robert McDowell directed Story Line Press for 22 years and is the author of two new books: Emily & Virginia, a novel, and Sweet Wolf: Selected & New Poems with Introduction by Chad Abushanab.         

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

                                   

                                    Gabe Leonard, Hard Thing in a Simple Way.  Mixed Media on Canvas.

                                   “An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way, and an artist says a hard thing in a simple way” – Charles Bukowski

Comments

[Bill Nevins]

Stink indeed! Brilliant!

[Indran Amirthanayagam]

I found a mouse quite dead on my doorstep
this morning and in my inbox this poem
smelling. Thank you mouse and thank you
Robert for summoning the master of sexy
puke, the god-damned and organic Buke.

In love and poetry ( and near the cemetery)

Indran (known once as the Duke of Free Verse)

[Grace Cavalieri]

Yes all art is not pretty. Some of it is better.

[Grace Cavalieri]

Actually I knew his wife and his domestic life was quite sanitary

[clarinda harriss]

Hey, Grace, what a wild and fascinating comment, you fascinating woman you!
Terry et al, thanks. This poem sure reeks, but in a good (i.e. memorable) way.

[clarinda]

P.S. This poem definitely has assigned me a task: mess around in a poem with the stinging/stinking echo chamber.

[Terence Winch]

Tell us more, Grace!

[Terence Winch]

Go for it, Clarinda!

[Emily Fragos]

Grace Cavalieri, Poet Laureate of the great state of Maryland, I adore you. What a fun comment.

[Terence Winch]

Emily: I couldn't agree more.

[David Lehman]

Another great pick of the week. No limits on gardenias, stinks; no room for chagrine, cringing, or complaint; and no limits! Great Gabe Leonard ilustration of an apt quote. And let me join in the chorus of appreciation for Grace.

[Peter Kearney]

How marvelous that Robert McDowell could write so perceptively about something so different from his own photo! But if he should awaken at 2:00am in a similar mood sometime, I recommend that he tune in to Bill Bukowski, the overnight classical music host for WETA.