Post Office

by Charles Bukowski

Courage comes from the belly—all else is desperation.

I checked two ads, went to two places and both of the places hired me. The first place smelled like work, so I took the second.

I wasn’t much of a petty thief. I wanted the whole world or nothing.

Look, let’s give it up. Let’s just lay around and make love and take walks and talk a little. Let’s go to the zoo. Let’s look at animals. Let’s drive down and look at the ocean. It’s only 45 minutes. Let’s play games in the arcades. Let’s go to the races, the Art Museum, the boxing matches. Let’s have friends. Let’s laugh. This kind of life is like everybody else’s kind of life: it’s killing us.”

We sat drinking in the dark, smoking cigarettes, and when we went to sleep, I didn’t put my feet on her body or she on mine like we used to. We slept without touching. We had both been robbed.