Every month SuperForester Jordan “rediscovers” a literary gem from the vast treasure trove of an art form that, in our technological age, has become largely under-appreciated and “lost”.
I remember when I studied poetry in college, sitting in class as the other students stumbled in with their bloodshot eyes from late night revelry and their half-scrambled last minute poems… and wondering: can poetry be taught, or learned? For me then (and for many), it was an academic exercise, one best approach with seriousness and intellectualism. But maybe the others had it right all along. The best art is not born in the classroom but from the well of experience and feeling that is a life. In the shadows of a drunken night there may flicker the spark of a 1000 great poems.
For no one was this more true then Charles Bukowski.
Known as the “laureate of American lowlife” — Bukowski abandoned his writing career for more then 20 years of heavy drinking, drifting, and work in a post-office. But like a lotus flower, from the mire of these personal experiences Bukowski created a flood of words. Over 60 books and thousands of poems by the time of his passing at 73. When asked how he creates, how he writes, Bukowski replied: “You don’t, You don’t try. That’s very important: not to try”.
The Laughing Heart
your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.
– by Charles Bukowski
This is my poem and mantra for the new year. Don’t wait, don’t try. Your life is your poem to write. Live it well.
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