I found it very challenging writing in Bukowski's style and I don't pretend for a minute to be able to fill his wonderfully cool, hip shoes.I revised this poem many times.It's important to experiment with other styles, I think, if only to appreciate the expertise required.
Far Far Away
no job
no friends
broke
betrayed
bankrupt
living in a doss house
living in silence
holes
in my socks
lost
lost everything
divorce
my replacement
slotted in
the sheets still warm
a wallet
stuffed with
$100 bills
small change
for a big spender
set adrift
rootless
a stranger to everyone
no-one calls my name
my children are strangers
mortified
ashamed
of
a leper's
slippery
slide
down
to the
bottom
alone
I think of my mother
for the first time
in years
my mother died alone
her son was too busy
being a bigshot
his beautiful
show pony wife
was also too busy
fucking her beau
his business partner
choices
I made bad ones
to public plaudits and acclaim
entertaining free loaders
fawning sycophants
prostrating themselves
at my feet
for favours
I could
drink myself
into oblivion
I could
coke myself
to the eyeballs
and fly
to the moon
I could
squander
squillions
on shit
to impress
and
I did it
better
than anyone
else
somehow
I'm planning on beating
this daily
promethean incision of pain
on one of God's good days
maybe he'll smile on me
a grin will do
I'll stumble across
Goodness
in what remains of
my unravelling life
must be quick to recognise her
in that simple dress
before she disappears
into the crowd
I will embrace her
hug her tightly to me
with gratitude
with humility
start again
live simply somewhere
somewhere blue green and quiet
just the two of us
far
far
away
I dig you Bukowskiesque poem. My favorite part is...
ReplyDeletealone
I think of my mother
for the first time
in years
I also agree with you about trying out different styles. Here is mine (not a sestina). I is called Dirty Words.
Thanks for another great prompt.
Wow, rallentanda, powerful stuff! Lovely writing.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to drop by and also say, thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog. It's great to meet new writers.
Paul
Like that idea of one of God's good days, and that image of Goodness in tatters knocks me out.
ReplyDeleteI flip-flopped the image and wrote a woman in a provincial beach city
Suzanne in St Petersburg
Great prompts - I focused on the James Dean image http://jdmackenzie.blogspot.com/ as opposed to Bukowski. Both are one of a kinds surging with raw honesty.
ReplyDeleteA brilliant piece, Rall, raw and powerful! I am a Bukowski fan. And that was an excellent prompt!
ReplyDeleteI was fixated on the weather ...
http://herwordsbloomed.blogspot.com/2011/02/pow-post-20.html
Thank you all for contributing such good poems to POW and for your kind comments.I know you are all busy people and these challenging prompts take some time. I think this might be the smallest poetry site on the blogosphere,but that's OK, we'll plod along,take the steep hills nice and slow like,and swim under the waterfall when we get to the other side with a silver tray of iced drinks and lunch laid out on the rocks.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Rall