CHOPIN BUKOWSKI by Charles Bukowski

this is my piano.

the phone rings and people ask,

what are you doing? how about

getting drunk with us?

and I say,

I’m at my piano.

what?

I’m at my piano.

I hang up.

people need me. I fill

them. if they can’t see me

for a while they get desperate, they get

sick.

But if I see them too often

I get sick. it’s hard to feed

without getting fed.

my piano says things back to

me.

sometimes the things are

scrambled and not very good.

other times

I get as good and lucky as

Chopin.

sometimes I get out of practice

out of tune. that’s

all right.

I can sit down and vomit on the

keys

but it’s my

vomit.

it’s better than sitting in a room

with 3 or 4 people and

their pianos.

this is my piano

and it is better than theirs.

(from Love is a Dog from Hell, 1977)

Certainly my favorite Bukowski poem. The book's title is also one of my favorite titles of any book.

Posted by Hans