I've discovered the work of Charles Bukowsi in the last few years. I'm learning he was controversial and considered offensive by some. I haven't delved that deeply yet to find what all of the critics see, but I really like his quotes and the poems I have read. Not ashamed to say I first heard of him through the movie Beautiful Creatures. One of the main characters wants to be a writer and is fascinated by his work. The name Bukowski stuck in my head.

In 1986 Time called Bukowski a “laureate of American lowlife”. Source: PoemHunter.com

Regarding Bukowski's enduring popular appeal, Adam Kirsch of The New Yorker wrote, “the secret of Bukowski’s appeal. . . [is that] he combines the confessional poet’s promise of intimacy with the larger-than-life aplomb of a pulp-fiction hero.” Source: PoemHunter.com

I discovered this poem this morning and had to post it. “So you want to be a writer” on the first read seems to be condescending, somewhat pretentious, and provoking. I think provocation was a large part of what he intended. I included the poem and Tom O'Bedlam's strong reading of it.

so you want to be a writer?

Charles Bukowski – 1920-1994

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.