The 8 count concerto

I inhale the space between
continents,
stretch my legs.
It's moments like
this- you can feel it
happening- that you grow
transformed
partly into something
else strange and
unnameable-
so when death comes
it can only take
part of
you.

"Death comes slowly like ants to a fallen fig."

- Charles Bukowski

Bedpan Nightmare

the nightmare is not
death itself
but the half-death,
the three-quarters death, the
fractional death

Bedpan Nightmare from Slouching Toward Nirvana

the fight is still on.
I may be backed into a corner but I'm
snarling in the dark.
what's left?
the redemption and the glory.
the last march of summer.
try to put me in a walker now and I'll
kick your ass!
meanwhile, here's another cold one,
and another.
it will be a while before I
see you at the finish line,
sucker.

Charles Bukowski - Fencing With The Shadows from The Flash of Lightning Behind The Mountain

“Not a single star will be left in the night.
The night will not be left.
I will die and, with me,
the weight of the intolerable universe.
I shall erase the pyramids, the medallions,
the continents and faces.
I shall erase the accumulated past.
I shall make dust of history, dust of dust.
Now I am looking on the final sunset.
I am hearing the last bird.
I bequeath nothingness to no one.”

—	Jorge Luis Borges, The Suicide (Translate)

"A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is."

George R. R. Martin - Game Of Thrones

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

Charles Bukowski

Source: http://bukwoski.net

"We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't."

Charles Bukowski