The State Of The World

Constantly Risking Absurdity And Death Whenever He Performs Above The Heads Of His Audience, The Poet, Like An Acrobat, Climbs On Rhyme To A High Wire Of His Own Making.

You Can Publish A Poem You Think Is A Very Important Poem, And You Don't Hear A Word From Anyone. [...] You Can Publish A Book Of Poetry By Dropping It Off A Cliff And Waiting To Hear An Echo. Quite Often, You'll Never Hear A Thing. So Doing That, Using Older Work, Puts It In A Context, And That Sort Of Forces The Reader To Realize What Its Importance Is-if It Has Any. Everything Needs A Context. You're Not Going To Recognize A Poet Unless You Have A Context.

Southern California, Where The American Dream Came Too True.

The Paintings May Communicate Even Better Because People Are Lazy And They Can Look At A Painting With Less Effort Than They Can Read A Poem.

If You're Going To Be A Writer You Should Sit Down And Write In The Morning, And Keep It Up All Day, Every Day. Charles Bukowski, No Matter How Drunk He Got The Night Before Or No Matter How Hungover He Was, The Next Morning He Was At His Typewriter. Every Morning. Holidays, Too. He'd Have A Bottle Of Whiskey With Him To Wake Up With, And That's What He Believed. That's The Way You Became A Writer: By Writing. When You Weren't Writing, You Weren't A Writer.