One of my few regrets in life is that I didn’t read more of the poetry and novels of others, especially the greats, and yet, coupled with everything else in life; work, family, friendships...relationships, my own writing, along with various other interests and hobbies, then no regret after all. Maybe in the afterlife, I’ll have the time, but something tells me, not. LOL
The bottom line is that if something was interesting enough, and gave me the passion to read, then I made the time. Good examples of this are the Horror novels of Anne Rice (vampire and witching chronicles), and the science fiction novels of Michael Crichton (Coma, Jurassic Park series, Prey).
Despite all the above, due to the fact that my eyes and ears have always been tuned in to the media, mainstream and underground, enough comes along and catches my eye, that I learn a lot about the world around me (and myself) through little bits n’ pieces, here and there. As I like to say, I know a little bit about a lot of things.
A case in point is the poem below. I can’t remember when I first came across the name, Charles Bukowski, but thanks to the Internet, quickly found out that he was a famous, controversial, and voracious writer. The movie Barfly (1987), starring Mickey Rourke, was in fact written by Bukowski, a semi-autobiographic film based on his life. Bukowski makes a cameo appearance in the movie.
Being a life long writer myself, needless to say, so you want to be a writer?, struck a chord in me.
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.
