Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Charles Bukowski: So You Want to Be a Writer?





















This Bukowski poem contains the best, truest advice on writing I've ever seen.

So you want to be a writer?

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.

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6 comments:

  1. Good poem for sure! Where is it from?

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  2. There's one thing about good poems - when you read them, you feel like you've already known the jist. You understand them and think "Shit, that's exactly what I meant. Why haven't I written this?".
    Then you realize, that poem is more important than the writer.
    Now you can only smile to yourself and take another breath.

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  3. I LOVE THIS AND IT IS THE TRUTH ABOUT ANY ART.

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  4. Dear Linda Memphis my dear cousin, The Legendary Danny O'Doul, became a legendary fuck of a writer
    just for chicks like you babe ...
    and, The LDO must be "really good" ...
    after all he's been sober for almost 23 years ...
    but, in his first 27 he woulda kept up with Buk for
    a good couple a days at a time!
    Luv ya babe and keep disseminating this good stuff.
    Sincerely,
    Benny Gamal

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love Bukowski. Love!!!

    Linda MemphisAugust 27, 2013 at 7:26 PM

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sacred truth what he wrote here (jensvoboda)

    ReplyDelete