your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.–Charles Bukowski
Jesus Christ. What has it been? Months? Mere life times?
A life time, it seems to me, has floated right on past waving its dainty hands at me. I still wear my hats. I still swear like a sailor. I still drink way more than is required of anyone to drink. I still dream of piano lessons.
Those qualities I will never be happy to see go.
The Goddamn Tree Story, Again
I would like to be a tree. Not just any tree, mind you. I would be an oak tree.
The biggest trees start out as small acorns. Trees! Boy, are they ever so big! And strong! You can’t easily move a tree and if you do, you’ve probably killed it. Defiant to the end. That’s why I would be a tree.
You don’t really know what’s going on in a tree. You probably think it is just a bunch of wood and squirrels and birds’ nests, just like the next tree and the one right next to that one. But, the next tree is a maple and the others are pines and I’m an oak. And that maple tree is full of syrup.
If I was a tree, I’d let you sit underneath me for I would be crooked with gnarly branches that offer shade. As a matter of fact I’d love it if you came and sat underneath my leaves and leaned against me and thought, “he’s strong enough to support me”. And lord, I would try. At the very least, I’d try. I just wouldn’t tell you my one weakness: You could chop me down.
But, you could and you might. Chances are, if you don’t someone else will. And I would rather you chop me down. As a tree I would, afterall, just have to take those chances.
P.S. if you cut me down, please make me a chair or at least a writing desk.
Love as always,
Kurt Doonesbury
Kurt "Paparazzo Martin" Doonesbury
