“lets split this diner and have a beer”
four coffees in an hour made the world
too awake for him
we walked to the Pink Mule,
the first bar we saw
he knew all of the bars--all bars knew him
the bartender was Abraham
but looked like a Bob
he had a bourbon poured before
Charles made it to the stool
and looked at me like I was a fool
“a light beer”
Bukowski didn’t bother to laugh
though I am sure the word ***
was rolling around in his head
looking for a place to get out
he kept on about Selma,
sweet succulent Selma
how anybody that hot
could rule the world
dragging men around by their dongs
without lifting a finger
that is why the gods made wine, he said
not for some sacrament for the holy humbled
but for men hunched over like balless beggars,
he said, when Abraham Bob
filled his jigger a second, or fourth time
men made that way by all the Selmas
whose middle name had to be vexation
a whiff of her could get you to take
a **** job, where you spent the day
hunched over, hoping, she would be there
when you got home
even if she was, you wouldn’t remember
in the morning, when you would go back
to the grinless grind, hunched over, hoping
Selma would be your wine
Sep 28, 2013
Sep 28, 2013 at 1:42 PM UTC
“lets split this diner and have a beer”
four coffees in an hour made the world
too awake for him
we walked to the Pink Mule,
the first bar we saw
he knew all of the bars--all bars knew him
the bartender was Abraham
but looked like a Bob
he had a bourbon poured before
Charles made it to the stool
and looked at me like I was a fool
“a light beer”
Bukowski didn’t bother to laugh
though I am sure the word ***
was rolling around in his head
looking for a place to get out
he kept on about Selma,
sweet succulent Selma
how anybody that hot
could rule the world
dragging men around by their dongs
without lifting a finger
that is why the gods made wine, he said
not for some sacrament for the holy humbled
but for men hunched over like balless beggars,
he said, when Abraham Bob
filled his jigger a second, or fourth time
men made that way by all the Selmas
whose middle name had to be vexation
a whiff of her could get you to take
a **** job, where you spent the day
hunched over, hoping, she would be there
when you got home
even if she was, you wouldn’t remember
in the morning, when you would go back
to the grinless grind, hunched over, hoping
Selma would be your wine
The "Pink Mule" is the name of a bar, Bulowski's protagonist, Chinaski, visits in the book, "Factotum"
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