Going through a tough phase of life? As Hank says in this poem that I've read again and again over the years, a good book can make an almost impossible existence, livable. Go for it. Find your book, the book that speaks to you, and read the words on the page as if your life depended on it.
the luck of the word
throughout the years
I have gotten letters
from men
who say
that reading my
books
has helped them
go through,
go on.
this is high praise
indeed
and I know what
they mean:
my nerve to go
on was helped
by reading
Fante, Dostoevsky,
Lawrence, Celine, Hamsun
and others.
the word
raw on the page,
the similarities of
our hells,
when it all comes
through with
special
force,
those words and
what they speak
of
do help
get our asses
through the
fire.
a good book
can make an almost
impossible
existence,
livable.
for the reader
and
the writer.
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*Note - the luck of the word is included in Charles Bukowski's collection of poems & stories, Betting on the Muse
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