You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense

Charles Bukowski

• Publisher: Ecco
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780876856833
• eBook ISBN: 9780061873041
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Charles Bukowski examines cats and his childhood in You Get So Alone at Times, a book of poetry that reveals his tender side. The iconic tortured artist/everyman delves into his youth to analyze its repercussions.

“The Walt Whitman of Los Angeles.”—Joyce Carol Oates

“He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels.”—Leonard Cohen, songwriter

it’s funny, isn’t it? #1

we were standing around

at this birthday party

at this fancy

restaurant

and

many

special people were

about

preening their

fame.

I wanted to run

out

when a man

standing near by

said something

exactly appropriate

to the

occasion.

“hey,” I said to

my wife, “this

guy’s got

something. when we are

seated

let’s try to

sit next to

him.”

we did and as

the drinks were

poured

the man began

talking

he began on a

long story

which was

building toward a

punch

line.

my problem was that

I could guess

what the

punch line

was

going to

be.

and

he talked

on and

on

then

dropped the

line.

“shit,” I

told him, “that

was

awful, you’ve

really

disappointed

me…”

he

only began

on another

story.

I walked over to

another table

and stood behind

the now

great

movie star.

“listen,

when I first met

you

you were just a nice

German boy.

now

you’ve turned into

a

conceited

prick. you’ve

really

disappointed

me.”

the great movie

star (who was a

man

mighty of

muscle) growled

and

shook his

shoulders.

then I walked over to

the table

where the birthday lady

sat

surrounded by

all these

media

folk.

“looking at you

people,” I said, “makes

me feel like

vomiting

all over

your

inept

plausibilities!”

“oh,” said the lady

to her

guests, “he

always talks

that

way!”

and she gave a

laugh, poor

dear.

so

I said, “Happy

birthday,

but

I warned you

never to

invite me to these

things.”

then

I walked back to

my table...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• 1813-1883
• Red Mercedes
• Retired
• Working it out
• Beasts Bounding Through Time-
• Trashcan Lives
• The Lost Generation
• No Help for That
• My Non-Ambitious Ambition
• Education
• Downtown L.A.
• Another Casualty
• Driving Test
• That's Why Funerals are so Sad
• Cornered
• Bumming With Jane
• Darkness
• Termites of the Page
• A Good Time
• The Still Trapeze
• January
• Sunny Side Down
• The Man in the Brown Suit
• A Magician, Gone...
• Well, That's Just The Way it is
• The Chemistry of Things
• Rift
• My Friend, the Parking Lot Attendant
• Miracle
• A Non-Urgent Poem
• My First Affair with that Older Woman
• The Freeway Life
• The Player
• P.O. Box 11946, Fresno, Calif. 93776
• Poor Al
• For My Ivy League Friends:
• Helping the Old
• Bad Times at the 3rd and Vermont Hotel
• The Master Plan
• Garbage
• My Vanishing Act
• Let's Make a Deal
• 16-Bit Intel 8088 Chip
• Zero
• Putrefaction
• I'll Take it...
• Supposedly Famous
• The Last Shot
• Whorehouse
• Starting Fast:
• The Crazy Truth
• Drive Through Hell
• For the Concerned:
• A Funny Guy
• Shoes
• Coffee
• Together
• The Finest of the Breed
• Close to Greatness
• The Stride
• Final Story
• Friends within the Darkness
• Death Sat on My Knee and Cracked with Laughter
• Oh Yes
• O Tempora! O Mores!
• The Passing of a Great One
• The Wine of Forever
• True
• Glenn Miller
• Emily Bukowski
• Some Suggestions
• Invasion
• Hard Times
• Longshot
• Concrete
• Gay Paree?
• I Thought the Stuff Tasted Worse than Usual
• The Blade
• The Boil
• Not Listed
• I'm Not a Misogynist
• The Lady in the Castle
• Relentless as the Tarantula
• Their Night
• Huh?
• It's Funny, Isn't It? #1
• It's Funny, Isn't It? #2
• The Beautiful Lady Editor
• About The Pen Conference
• Everybody Talks Too Much
• Me and My Buddy
• Song
• Practice
• Love Poem to a Stripper
• My Buddy
• Jon Edgar Webb
• Thank You
• The Magic Curse
• Party's Over
• No Nonsense
• Escape
• Wearing the Collar
• A Cat is a Cat is a Cat is a Cat
• Marching Through Georgia
• Gone
• I Meet the Famous Poet
• Seize the Day
• The Shrinking Island
• Magic Machine
• Those Girls We Followed Home
• Fractional Note
• A Following
• A Tragic Meeting
• An Ordinary Poem
• From an Old Dog in His Cups...
• Let 'em Go
• Trying to Make It
• The Death of a Splendid Neighborhood
• You Get so Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense
• A Good Gang, After All
• This
• Hot
• Late Late Late Poem
• 3 A.M. Games:
• Someday I'm Going to Write a Primer for Crippled Saints But Meanwhile
• Help Wanted
• Sticks and Stones...
• Working
• Over Done
• Our Laughter is Muted by Their Agony
• Murder
• What Am I Doing?
• Nervous People
• Working Out
• How is Your Heart?
• Forget It
• Quiet
• It's Ours
• About the Author
• By Charles Bukowski
• Copyright
• About the Publisher