The Last Night of the Earth Poems Quotes

“Although looked down upon, the idiots seemed to have the more peaceful lives: nothing was expected of them.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“is there any wonder why the world is where it’s at now? just notice the creature sitting near you in a movie house or standing ahead of you in a supermarket line. or giving a State of the Union Address. that the gods have let us go on this long this badly.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“They had been afraid of the man with the beautifil eyes. And we were afraid then that all troughout our lives things like that would happen, that nobody wanted anybody to be strong and beautiful like that, that others will never allow it, and that many people will have to die.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“I look like a man in a death camp.
I
am.

still, I'm lucky: I feat on solitude, I
will never miss the crowd.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“I’ll think nice things about my
wife, she looks so small there
under the blanket, a little
lump, that’s all
(death, you take me first, please)
this lady needs a gentle space of
peace
without me).”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“the bar was the best place to hide in. time came under your control, time to wade in, time to do nothing in. no guru was needed, no god. nothing expected but yourself and nothing lost to the unexpected.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“it’s as if he were hiding in there and I want to console him, say: “I am sorry, poor fellow, but creation has its limits.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“it is a fine sunny day and great matters loom across the horizon of history. Carthage in my rearview mirror, I blend into Time.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“not much chance,
completely cut loose from
purpose,
he was a young man
riding a bus
through North Carolina
on the way to somewhere
and it began to snow
and the bus stopped
at a little cafe
in the hills
and the passengers
entered.
he sat at the counter
with the others,
he ordered and the
food arrived.
the meal was
particularly
good
and the
coffee.
the waitress was
unlike the women
he had
known.
she was unaffected,
there was a natural
humor which came
from her.
the fry cook said
crazy things.
the dishwasher.
in back,
laughed, a good
clean
pleasant
laugh.
the young man watched
the snow through the
windows.
he wanted to stay
in that cafe
forever.
the curious feeling
swam through him
that everything
was
beautiful
there,
that it would always
stay beautiful
there.
then the bus driver
told the passengers
that it was time
to board.
the young man
thought, I'll just sit
here, I'll just stay
here.
but then
he rose and followed
the others into the
bus.
he found his seat
and looked at the cafe
through the bus
window.
then the bus moved
off, down a curve,
downward, out of
the hills.
the young man
looked straight
forward.
he heard the other
passengers
speaking
of other things,
or they were
reading
or
attempting to
sleep.
they had not
noticed
the
magic.
the young man
put his head to
one side,
closed his
eyes,
pretended to
sleep.
there was nothing
else to do -
just to listen to the
sound of the
engine,
the sound of the
tires
in the
snow."

- Charles Bukowski, "Nirvana”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“A. Huxley died at 69, much too early for such a fierce talent, and I read all his works but actually Point Counter Point did help a bit in carrying me through the factories and the drunk tanks and the unsavory ladies. that book along with Hamsun’s Hunger they helped a bit. great books are the ones we need.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“downers some people grind away making their unhappiness the ultimate factor of their existence until finally they are just automatically unhappy, their suspicious upset snarling selves grinding on and at and for and through their only relief being to meet another unhappy person or to create one.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“I blend into Time.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“no baby, if you’re going to create you’re going to create whether you work 16 hours a day in a coal mine or you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children while you’re on welfare, you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown away, you’re going to create blind crippled demented, you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your back while the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment, flood and fire. baby, air and light and time and space have nothing to do with it and don’t create anything except maybe a longer life to find new excuses for.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“well, death says, as he walks by, I’m going to get you anyhow no matter what you’ve been: writer, cab-driver, pimp, butcher, sky-diver, I’m going to get you…”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“there’s all that time to eat drink and wait on death like everybody else.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“hell is built piece by piece brick by brick around you.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“I am asked to hide my viewpoint from them for fear of their fear.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“hell is a closed door when you’re starving for your goddamned art but sometimes you feel at least like having a peek through the keyhole. young or old, good or bad, I don’t think anything dies as slow and as hard as a writer.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“Maldita sea, parecía imposible que perdiéramos, pero perdimos.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“women were beyond me.
they saw something
depraved.
there was one waitress
a little older than
I, she rather smiled,
lingered when she
brought my
coffee.

that was plenty for
me, that was
enough.

- Young in New Orleans”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“people are strange: they are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice…”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“not writing is not good but trying to write when you can’t is worse.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“now, all there is to do is reset broken moments. when even to exist seems a victory”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“as the fools are fooled again you wonder where the real ones are if there are real ones.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“poetry it takes a lot of desperation dissatisfaction and disillusion to write a few good poems. it’s not for everybody either to write it or even to read it.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“and there was a fish pond a large one full of the fattest goldfish you ever saw and they were tame. they came to the surface of the water and took pieces of bread from our hands.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“what bargains we have made
we have
kept
and
as the dogs of the hours
close in
nothing
can be taken
from us
but
our lives.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“you don't have to go to the movies
to see a horror
show.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“death is nothing, brother,
it's life that's
hard”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

“talihe bak
kadınlı erkekli bir grup
yemeğimizi bitirmiş
masada oturuyorduk.
PMS'den
söz açıldı
nasılsa.
kadınlardan biri
PMS'ye
tek çarenin
yaşlılık olduğunu söyledi
kendinden gayet emin.
şimdi hatırlayamadığım
başka şeyler de
söylendi,
ama
bir kez evlenmiş
bir kez boşanmış
ve bir çok kez yanında harikulade
ve genç kadınlarla gördüğüm
Alman misafirin
ne dediğini çok iyi
hatırlıyorum,
konuşmaları sessizce dinledikten
sonra,
"PMS nedir? diye
sormuştu.
işte
meleklerin
gerçekten dokunduğu
biri size.

ışık o denli parlaktı ki
herkes başını çevirip
başka tarafa baktı.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems