Style - Charles Bukowski

Style is the answer to everything.
A fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous thing
To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing without it
To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art

Bullfighting can be an art 
Boxing can be an art
Loving can be an art
Opening a can of sardines can be an art

Not many have style
Not many can keep style
I have seen dogs with more style than men,
although not many dogs have style.
Cats have it with abundance.

When Hemingway put his brains to the wall with a shotgun,
that was style.
Or sometimes people give you style
Joan of Arc had style
John the Baptist
Christ
Socrates
Caesar
García Lorca.

I have met men in jail with style.
I have met more men in jail with style than men out of jail.
Style is the difference, a way of doing, a way of being done.
Six herons standing quietly in a pool of water,
or you, naked, walking out of the bathroom without seeing me.

The Future - Leonard Cohen

                                                                

                                                              
                                                          

Give me absolute control 
over every living soul 
And lie beside me, baby, 
that's an order! 

Give me crack and anal sex 
Take the only tree that's left 
and stuff it up the hole 
in your culture 

Give me back the Berlin wall  

give me Stalin and St Paul 
I've seen the future, brother: 
it is murder. 

Things are going to slide in all directions 
Nothing will be measured anymore 
The blizzard of the world 
has crossed the threshold 
and overturned 
the order of the soul 

When they said Repent 
I wonder what they meant 


You don't know me from the wind 
you never will, you never did 
I'm the little jew 
who wrote the Bible 

I've seen the nations rise and fall 
I've heard their stories, heard them all 
but love's the only engine of survival 

Now your servant has been told 
to say it clear, to say it cold: 
It's over, it ain't going 
any further 

And now the wheels of heaven stop 
you feel the devil's riding crop 
Get ready for the future: 
it is murder 

Things are going to slide in all directions 
Nothing will be measured anymore 
The blizzard of the world 
has crossed the threshold 
and overturned 
the order of the soul 

When they said Repent 
I wonder what they meant 

There'll be the breaking of the ancient western code 
I mean your private life will suddenly explode

 There'll be phantoms 
There'll be fires on the road 
and the white man dancing 

You'll see your woman hanging upside down 
her features covered by her fallen gown 
and all the lousy little poets coming round 
tryin' to sound like Charlie Manson 


Give me back the Berlin wall 
Give me Stalin and St Paul 
Give me Christ or give me Hiroshima 
Destroy another fetus now 
We don't like children anyhow 
I've seen the future, baby: 
it is murder 

Puppets and Machines

“Every time you went into the library,” said the book, “the Creator of the Universe held His breath. With such a higgledy-piggledy cultural smorgasbord before you, what would you, with your free will, choose?”

“Your parents were fighting machines and self-pitying machines,” said the book. “Your mother was programmed to bawl out your father for being a defective moneymaking machine, and your father was programmed to bawl her out for being a defective housekeeping machine. They were programmed to bawl each other out for being defective loving machines.

“Then your father was programmed to stomp out of the house and slam the door. This automatically turned your mother into a weeping machine. And your father would go down to a tavern where he would get drunk with some other drinking machines. Then all the drinking machines would go to a whorehouse and rent fucking machines. And then your father would drag himself home to become an apologizing machine. And your mother would become a very slow forgiving machine.”

                            Kurt Vonnegut
                        Breakfast of Champions 

Ithaka - C.P.Cavafy

C.P.Cavafy

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean. 

" may i feel said he " by e e cummings

Tess IV by Fabian Perez

may i feel said he

(i'll squeal said she

just once said he)

it's fun said she

(may i touch said he

how much said she

a lot said he)

why not said she

(let's go said he

not too far said she

what's too far said he

where you are said she)

may i stay said he

(which way said she

like this said he

if you kiss said she

may i move said he

is it love said she)

if you're willing said he

(but you're killing said she

but it's life said he

but your wife said she

now said he)

ow said she

(tiptop said he

don't stop said she

oh no said he)

go slow said she

(cccome?said he

ummm said she)

you're divine!said he

(you are Mine said she)

                     

"Joe Heller" by Kurt Vonnegut

Joe Heller

True story, Word of Honor:

Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer

now dead,

and I were at a party given by a billionaire

on Shelter island.

I said, "Joe, how does it make you feel

to know that our host only yesterday

may have made more money

than your novel 'Catch-22'

has earned in its entire history?"

And Joe said, "I've got something he can never have."

And I said, "What on earth could that be, Joe?"

And Joe said, "The knowledge that I've got enough."

Not bad! Rest in peace!

                       - Kurt Vonnegut -

A Moment of Pefection

Crow and Tree - Heaven and Earth in Winter by h.koppdelaney

A moment of perfection is all you need in life

Nothing less ; nothing more

After that, its all the same

A perfect cup of tea is no different than Mona Lisa

Making a perfect cup of tea is the pinnacle of life

                                                                      - Bon Vivant-

Bluebird - Charles Bukowski

"there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?"

http://menicola.tumblr.com/post/5801476443/tattoo-bluebird-bukowski

Tao Te Ching

"The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal Name." 

1.

When the Master governs, the people 

are hardly aware that he exists.
Next best is a leader who is loved. 

Next, one who is feared.

The worst is one who is despised.

If you don’t trust the people, 

you make them untrustworthy.

The Master doesn’t talk, he acts. 

When his work is done,
the people say, ”Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!” 

2.

Throw away holiness and wisdom, 

and people will be a hundred times happier. 

Throw away morality and justice,
and people will do the right thing.
Throw away industry and profit,
and there won’t be any thieves.

If these three aren’t enough,
just stay at the center of the circle 

and let all things take their course. 

3.

He who stands on tiptoe 

doesn’t stand firm.
He who rushes ahead

doesn’t go far.

He who tries to shine
dims his own light.
He who defines himself
can’t know who he really is. 

He who has power over others 

can’t empower himself.

He who clings to his work
will create nothing that endures.
If you want to accord with the Tao, 

just do your job, then let go. 

4.

The path into the light seems dark,

the path forward seems to go back,
the direct path seems long,
true power seems weak,
true purity seems tarnished,
true steadfastness seems changeable, 

true clarity seems obscure,
the greatest are seems unsophisticated,

 the greatest love seems indifferent,
the greatest wisdom seems childish. 

5.

If you want to be a great leader, 

you must learn to follow the Tao. 

Stop trying to control.
Let go of fixed plans and concepts, 

and the world will govern itself.

The more prohibitions you have, 

the less virtuous people will be. 

The more weapons you have,
the less secure people will be. 

The more subsidies you have,
the less self-reliant people will be.

Therefore the Master says: 

I let go of the law,
and people become honest. 

I let go of economics,

and people become prosperous.
I let go of religion,
and people become serene.
I let go of all desire for the common good, 

and the good becomes common as grass.

6.

The gentlest thing in the world 

overcomes the hardest thing in the world. 

If you look to others for fulfillment, 

you will never truly be fulfilled.

Whoever can see through all fear
will always be safe.

The more you know, 

the less you understand.

Seeing into darkness is clarity. 

Knowing how to yield is strength. 

The great Way is easy,
yet people prefer the side paths.

Those who know don’t talk. 

Those who talk don’t know. 

Not-knowing is true knowledge. 

Presuming to know is a disease. 

                                                                      Lao Tzu

Roll The Dice by Charles Bukowski

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.

go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.

if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.

do it, do it, do it.
do it.

all the way
all the way.

you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, its
the only good fight there is.

The Crunch by Charles Bukowski

too much too little 

too fat
too thin
or nobody. 

laughter or
tears 

haters
lovers 

strangers with faces like
the backs of
thumb tacks 

armies running through
streets of blood
waving winebottles
bayoneting and fucking
virgins. 

an old guy in a cheap room
with a photograph of M. Monroe. 

there is a loneliness in this world so great
that you can see it in the slow movement of
the hands of a clock 

people so tired
mutilated
either by love or no love. 

people just are not good to each other
one on one. 

the rich are not good to the rich
the poor are not good to the poor. 

we are afraid. 

our educational system tells us
that we can all be
big-ass winners 

it hasn't told us
about the gutters
or the suicides. 

or the terror of one person
aching in one place
alone 

untouched
unspoken to 

watering a plant. 

people are not good to each other.
people are not good to each other.
people are not good to each other. 

I suppose they never will be.
I don't ask them to be. 

but sometimes I think about
it. 

the beads will swing
the clouds will cloud
and the killer will behead the child
like taking a bite out of an ice cream cone. 

too much
too little 

too fat
too thin
or nobody 

more haters than lovers. 

people are not good to each other.
perhaps if they were
our deaths would not be so sad. 

meanwhile I look at young girls
stems
flowers of chance. 

there must be a way. 

surely there must be a way that we have not yet
though of. 

who put this brain inside of me? 

it cries
it demands
it says that there is a chance. 

it will not say
"no."