Slouching Toward Nirvana
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Slouching Toward Nirvana

Charles Bukowski

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eBook - ePub

Slouching Toward Nirvana

Charles Bukowski

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About This Book

"Wordsworth, Whitman, William Carlos Williams, and The Beats in their respective generations moved poetry toward a more natural language. Bukowski moved it a little farther."ā€” Los Angeles Times Book Review

"He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels."ā€”Leonard Cohen, songwriter

Los Angeles slums, bars, and more are featured in Slouching Toward Nirvana, the third of five books of unpublished poems from Charles Bukowski, considered by many to be America's most imitated and influential poet.

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Information

Year
2009
ISBN
9780061979989
Subtopic
Poesia

PART ONE

Bach is the hardest to play badly because
he made so few spiritual mistakes.

a 4th of July in the early 30ā€™s

there wasnā€™t much to celebrate,
of course,
our fathers werenā€™t working
and the canned food from the Dept. of Relief
all had the same terrible
stale taste.
nothing much was happening anywhere and
there was a joyless resignation
in the air
but I remember this one morning at about
6 a.m. on the 4th of July
1932 or 3 or 4, I donā€™t remember which,
when I heard loud explosions
in the street outside:
GIANT FIRECRACKERS!
I got out of bed, dressed
quickly, ran outside
and there
coming up Longwood Avenue
right in the center of the street was
my buddy Gene
walking along and throwing
giant firecrackers
into the air.
the morning fog
was just beginning to lift
and the first sun was coming
through
and there was Gene
walking
along
and making the air
explode!
I ran up to him.
ā€œgod damn! what you got?ā€
ā€œcherry bombs!
and plenty of
them!ā€
he also had
what was called a ā€œpunk,ā€
a coated metal stick that
glowed hot and red at the
end.
Gene touched the punk
to a fuse
watched it burn down,
then tossed the bomb high
into the air
where it exploded
right at the height of its
arc.
a man came out
on his front porch
in his pajamas.
ā€œHEY, YOU KIDS, CUT OUT THAT
SHIT! I WANT TO SLEEP!ā€

ā€œcome out here and make us
stop!ā€ said Gene
(he was big for his
age).
ā€œIā€™LL TELL YOUR FATHER!ā€
Gene laughed, lit a cracker,
and tossed it toward the
man. it landed
right on the ledge of his large
plate glass window.
ā€œBAANNGG!!ā€
luckily the window didnā€™t
break.
the man ran back into his
house.
Gene handed me the punk
and a bomb.
ā€œyou try oneā€¦ā€
I lit the fuse and waited
as long as I dared
then hurled the bomb.
it went off a dozen feet over my
head.
ā€œnot bad,ā€ Gene said.
we walked up Longwood to
21st street, took a left, then
went up the little hill.
ā€œwatch this,ā€
said Gene.
there was a garbage can sitting out by a
fence.
Gene took the lid off, dropped
a lit bomb in there and
put the lid back
on.
ā€œBAANNNGG!!ā€
the explosion sent the lid flying
about 3 feet
into the air.
ā€œgod, theyā€™re powerful!ā€
ā€œyeah,ā€ said Gene.
we walked a little further up
the hill.
there was a car parked there
with the window slightly open
on the driverā€™s
side.
ā€œwatch this,ā€ said Gene.
he lit a cracker and dropped it
through the window.
ā€œBAAANNNGG!!ā€
the car rocked, then
was filled with thick
blue smoke.
ā€œthat was great!ā€ I
said.
Gene had 3 or 4 cherry bombs left.
we turned, walked back down
the hill.
Gene lit the last ones,
one by one and arched them
as far as possible
into the air where
they exploded.
then we were standing in front
of his house.
it was now about 6:30
a.m.
ā€œwell, thatā€™s it,ā€ he said,
ā€œitā€™s over.ā€
ā€œthanks, Gene.ā€
ā€œsure, see you
aroundā€¦ā€
he walked into his
house...

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