“Dinosauria, We” By Charles Bukowski

Amigo · Posts: 6832 Location: Southern Cal

Dinosauria, We

Born like this
Into this
As the chalk faces smile
As Mrs. Death laughs
As the elevators break
As political landscapes dissolve
As the supermarket bag boy holds a college degree
As the oily fish spit out their oily prey
As the sun is masked
We are
Born like this
Into this
Into these carefully mad wars
Into the sight of broken factory windows of emptiness
Into bars where people no longer speak to each other
Into fist fights that end as shootings and knifings
Born into this
Into hospitals which are so expensive that it’s cheaper to die
Into lawyers who charge so much it’s cheaper to plead guilty
Into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
Into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes
Born into this
Walking and living through this
Dying because of this
Muted because of this
Castrated
Debauched
Disinherited
Because of this
Fooled by this
Used by this
Pissed on by this
Made crazy and sick by this
Made violent
Made inhuman
By this
The heart is blackened
The fingers reach for the throat
The gun
The knife
The bomb
The fingers reach toward an unresponsive god
The fingers reach for the bottle
The pill
The powder
We are born into this sorrowful deadliness
We are born into a government 60 years in debt
That soon will be unable to even pay the interest on that debt
And the banks will burn
Money will be useless
There will be open and unpunished murder in the streets
It will be guns and roving mobs
Land will be useless
Food will become a diminishing return
Nuclear power will be taken over by the many
Explosions will continually shake the earth
Radiated robot men will stalk each other
The rich and the chosen will watch from space platforms
Dante’s Inferno will be made to look like a children’s playground
The sun will not be seen and it will always be night
Trees will die
All vegetation will die
Radiated men will eat the flesh of radiated men
The sea will be poisoned
The lakes and rivers will vanish
Rain will be the new gold
The rotting bodies of men and animals will stink in the dark wind
The last few survivors will be overtaken by new and hideous diseases
And the space platforms will be destroyed by attrition
The petering out of supplies
The natural effect of general decay
And there will be the most beautiful silence never heard
Born out of that.
The sun still hidden there
Awaiting the next chapter.

Amigo · Posts: 6832 Location: Southern Cal

Noddy24 · Posts: 27594 Location: Brave New World

Amigo--

Where did you come across this author? He interests me.

Sturgis · Posts: 11378 Location: New York City

Noddy24 wrote:

Amigo--

Where did you come across this author? He interests me.

He was one of those beat era poets (and a drunken one at that) here we have him discussing (in poetry form) the author Carson McCullers:

Carson McCullers

she died of alcoholism
wrapped in a blanket
on a deck chair
on an ocean
steamer.

all her books of
terrified loneliness

all her books about
the cruelty
of loveless love

were all that was left
of her

as the strolling vacationer
discovered her body

notified the captain

and she was quickly dispatched
to somewhere else
on the ship

as everything
continued just
as
she had written it

Anway, Bukowski died on this day in 1994.

Learn more at Bukoswki.net

Noddy24 · Posts: 27594 Location: Brave New World

Sturgis--

Thank you.

gustavratzenhofer · Posts: 20102 Location: By the swamp

I have the rubbing from Bukowski's tombstone on my wall.

Framed, of course.

Sturgis · Posts: 11378 Location: New York City

Yes, I'm sure you do (Gus, why am I not at all surprised by this?).

And you are quite welcome Noddy.

Amigo · Posts: 6832 Location: Southern Cal

Noddy24 wrote:

Amigo--

Where did you come across this author? He interests me.

He was very big in the sub culture when I found him about 15 years ago. He is very good. Start with "ham On rye" it is suposed to be his best. I dissagre that he is a beat writer. I beleive him to be an alternative to the beat writers.

Amigo · Posts: 6832 Location: Southern Cal

gustavratzenhofer wrote:

I have the rubbing from Bukowski's tombstone on my wall.

Framed, of course.

So you have been to san Pedro?

Letty · Posts: 36087 Location: Daytona Beach area

My word, Amigo. I thought that you had disappeared through a crack in the San Andreas.

Not familiar with Bukowski, but glad to know that you are all right.