Home   Home

Chasing Buk

by JD Clay

 

Opening day at Santa Anita Park

isnÂ’t the same anymore

without Bukowski standing at the rail

waving his tickets

in the tail wind of a long shot

 

I lost the first race

to a nag at the quarter pole

then promptly folded my Pick Six

into an origami aeroplane

and sailed it into a sea of hats

 

The Turf Club was packed

so I grabbed a dog and a beer

then placed another wager

thinking Poetic Justice in the third

was a shoe in

 

WhatÂ’s another twenty bucks

 

I went with my gut in the eighth

on a three year old filly Trifecta

stood at the gate clutching a copy

of BukÂ’s Betting on the Muse

yelling  COME TO DADDY

in a drunken accent

all the way to the wire

 

Two furlongs short of an autograph

 

 

 

~ jadi ~

 

 

 

 

01/23/2005

Posted on 01/30/2005
Copyright © 2024 JD Clay

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Max Bouillet on 01/30/05 at 05:13 PM

Beer, dogs, horses, loosing money, and airplanes. Wow. An eclectic gathering of words that sing images that smell of wet animals and the chance of money. Great word strings... thanks for sharing.

Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 01/31/05 at 12:29 AM

You've just written a clear vivid poetic descriptive why I do not gamble! Can't stand losing! LOL! Touch of ironic humor. I smiled without sympathy. LOL!

Posted by Michelle Angelini on 01/31/05 at 01:38 AM

WOO HOO! jadi - I like this - yeah, both Bukowski and Santa Anita. It's on my favorites.
~Chelle~

Posted by Amy Niggel on 01/31/05 at 03:26 AM

wow I haven't been to the track in forever... great poem took me right there again :) You're my poetic hero!

Posted by Michele Schottelkorb on 01/31/05 at 01:25 PM

yes, my ancient ten year old mind remembered this... cept i was watching my dada and uncles... great reverie... blessings...

Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 01/31/05 at 03:04 PM

Amusing, light reflection of one's own poetic shorcomings, on and off the race track.

Posted by Mary Ellen Smith on 01/31/05 at 05:39 PM

wonderful sights and sounds in this one!

Posted by Michelle Floyd on 02/01/05 at 02:30 PM

I ran across this poem and my first thought was, "That's exactly what *I* was saying!"

Posted by Graeme Fielden on 02/01/05 at 02:54 PM

How come we have so much fun chasing a ta/il/le? Fun & insightful as ever Mr Clay...:)

Posted by David R Spellman on 02/01/05 at 04:33 PM

As a long-time horse race lover I had to smile at the vivid pictures you've presented in this one JD. From wire to wire this one's a winner!

Posted by Sarah Graves on 02/02/05 at 12:40 AM

This has it all.. it really kept me at the edge of my seat. Great work, as always.

Posted by Philip F De Pinto on 02/02/05 at 02:34 PM

nice sort of trippin into a day at the races with the much irreverent and thus much beloved Chinaski, and honest as the day is long shot perhaps, but who loves favorites anyway, they're for losers. yeah, Chinaski is one, i would not have minded sitting next to at a bar, guzzling our barrelful, and burning our stogey lives down to their cinders although i get this notion that if i said two words to him, in praise or just shooting the breeze, he'd tell me to put a sock in it.

Posted by Charles E Minshall on 02/04/05 at 05:28 AM

Photo finish Jadi. Fun read!...Charlie

Posted by Ulyss Rubey on 02/06/05 at 05:15 AM

We need more button past "vivid" for this one.

Posted by Bruce W Niedt on 02/08/05 at 02:40 PM

I love this! Colorful, colloquial, humorous, a little allergorical - just a great piece! "Buk" would've been proud.... d:-)

Posted by David Hill on 02/10/05 at 12:31 AM

Very authentic. True to his style. Nice details (like the beer carton and the various names throughout). Atmospheric. Coincidence that we both posted Bukowski poems a few days apart. I am fascinated by that crazy nut.

Posted by Michele Schottelkorb on 02/11/05 at 02:34 PM

it is such a joy to see you spotlighted, JD... blessings...

Posted by Rusty C Arquette on 02/11/05 at 03:45 PM

Bukowski lives with me. I've been trying to get him out of the house. Maybe a bus ticket to San Diego would do it? It's not that I don't like him around, it's just the haunting Hank projection at all hours of the day and night, well, that kind'a gets weird. Plus, whenever we are drinking he always ends up picking a fight. Where is Camus when you need him?! - Love the images, love the theme, Write on dude! - RCat

Posted by Charles E Minshall on 02/11/05 at 07:58 PM

Congratulations on poem of the day Jadi...Charlie

Posted by Glenn Currier on 02/12/05 at 06:23 AM

Oh now, I can see I won't be able to wait for the Dallas racing season... it's off to Oak Lawn Park for the lenten run... You warm the cockles of my ponyloving heart and capture the way the track makes a fool of many a man... Fun run, jadi.

Posted by Lori I Wolfe on 02/20/05 at 06:44 PM

This brings back images of the Ex piecing out our hard work for the chance of his easy street that never came. Great poem!

Posted by Michael Faraday on 08/02/05 at 01:09 AM

nice tribute to 'Barfly'... :)

Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 08/09/05 at 11:23 AM

A fun reread! Ironic humor as someone noted I think best fits this "racey" poem! :) Still hate gambling!

Posted by Elizabeth Jill on 04/28/06 at 03:42 PM

Gold! —you are thrilling to read! Every turn I make, you're on a friends favorite, and it's clear why! Smººth PeN - writer!

Return to the Previous Page
 

pathetic.org Version 7.3.2 May 2004 Terms and Conditions of Use 0 member(s) and 2 visitor(s) online
All works Copyright © 2024 their respective authors. Page Generated In 0 Second(s)