George J. Dance wrote:

Will Dockery wrote:

Another one from Bukowski, "Bluebird":

https://youtu.be/lyMS4qJ8NXU

Blech.

Wow! It's a good thing I read "Bluebird" for myself. I might've formed >>>> the wrong opinion of it.

For continuity, the George Dance review of "Bluebird":

George J. Dance wrote:

On 2022-07-21 7:00 p.m., NancyGene wrote:

On Thursday, July 21, 2022 at 10:51:22 PM UTC, blackpo...@aol.com

wrote:

https://youtu.be/lyMS4qJ8NXU

It's really just a paragraph or two being read.

No, it's not 'just" a prose paragraph. Just from Bukowski's reading, you >>>> can tell he's reading a poem: you can hear the line breaks.

That said, we don't like the last line ("But I don't weep, do you?"). >>>>
It reminds us of a former first lady's coat, which said "I don't really >>>> care, do you?" although the Bukowski quote predates that.

I don't know, but I'd bet it was her husband who said that. That's
always a problem in a poem (when a line or phrase unintentionally echoes >>>> something more familiar, resulting in a mixed image), but it's probably >>>> one that will go away: the Nixons have been consigned to the dustbin of >>>> history, where they belong.

Having the line end with "do you?" is a totally obvious choice and hurts >>>> the poem.

It may detract from the poem for some; it turns it from a purely

introspective piece into a didactic or 'message' poem. But there's

nothing wrong with didacticism per se. And I admire Bukowski for going
there.



I think "Bluebird" was written as a spoken piece (from all that

repetition); that Bukowski was considering his audience, whom he was

writing for; and that his audience -- tough guys, hard workers and hard

drinkers, rebels without a cause -- are the men most likely to have

their own bluebird problem, and (for the same reason) most likely to

suppress that knowledge. He cannot count on that sort of man (he knows,

since he's been one himself) to just suddenly think, "Gee, he's not only

talking about himself -- he's talking about a general truth about man,

which might be true of me as well." Especially in a spoken reading,

where he and his audience will have passed on to another poem a few

moments later. For the poem to be most effective, he has to give his

audience that thought explicitly.

Exactly, well put.

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