Bukowski writes a lot of beatnik, working-man's poetry. All of it is great, but occasionally, he transcends:

"A Song With No End"


when Whitman wrote, "I sing the body electric"

I know what he
meant
I know what he
wanted:

to be completely alive every moment
in spite of the inevitable.

we can't cheat death but we can make it
work so hard
that when it does take
us

it will have known a victory just as
perfect as
ours.

Came across this the other day and realized I wasn't familiar with Bukowski's writing--I knew about his rep, but I wanted to see if it was deserved. A lot of hipster icons are more style over substance.Verdict? New fan. ( )