You write some of your best poems just before your head hits the pillow
But it's rarely worth my while to get up from beneath the warm blankets to write them down
but this time I did
I sat down and considered the keyboard
I wanted to write about style and definitions of adventure
I had some ideas but none that wanted to be translated into words
So I read some Bukowski instead
Then I said to myself,
I really must try not to mimic him again
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A co-worker walked by my desk the other day and saw a copy of 'Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame' on it and asked if I liked Bukowski. I was not sure how to respond. I think so, I said. I mean I'm sort of addicted to those little revelations of genius that pop out from amongst the misogyny, seeming banality, and reckless repetition.
I've often wondered why Bukowski appeals to skateboarders, Most notably Scott Bourne. (Watch Scott skate to Bukowski in Pontus Alv's first film here) Could be something about piss poor attention spans, susceptibility to ADHD or it could be about being familiar with the gutter and street life. Or it could be about style.
Style is the answer to everything.
A fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous day.
To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing without style.
To do a dangerous thing with style, is what I call art.
(Check this clip a fan of Julien Stranger and Bukowski put together to make the point better than I can)
I always thought it would be great to go from being a spunky seventeen year old with a unique attack on life to being a twisted and grizzled old bastard waiting to die, overnight.
I'll end with 'I Met A Genius' that was recently used in the Dane Reynolds surf flick Seen And Unseen. (At about 6 mins 30 Secs)
I met a genius on the train
today
about 6 years old,
he sat beside me
and as the train ran along the coast
we came to the ocean
and we both looked out the window at the ocean
and then he looked at me
and we both looked out the window at the ocean
and then he looked at me
and said,
it's not pretty.
it was the first time I'd realized that.
