I Raise My Glass of Whiskey To You, Charles Bukowski

I was so graciously reminded by a blog I follow, The Roaring 20s,  that today would have been Charles Bukowski’s 90th birthday.  Bukowski happens to be one of my favorite poets and I keep his posthumously published collection, what matters most is how well you walk through the fire., on my nightstand.  I purchased the collection a few months ago when I made the decision that I needed more Bukowski in my life.  As I read through his poems, I placed post-it note after post-it note on pages that I wanted to remember (which turned out to be most of the pages).  I also kept a blank journal alongside the book and forced myself to write Bukowski-inspired poems after reading in an attempt to expand my body of work exponentially. 

 Coincidentally, in the week that I read Bukowski’s collection religiously, I also had the most intense dreams/nightmares.  Nightmare is probably too strong a word, but I did have pretty bizarre and intense dreams.  I even scrawled in my notebook, “Let’s see how many consecutive days these Bukowski-induced dreams will last!” 

In honor of Charles Bukowski on what would be his 90th birthday, it might seem like the appropriate time to share some of my Bukowski-inspired poems, but I wouldn’t subject you to that, dear reader.  Instead, I take this moment to raise my glass of whiskey to the poet!