Dostoevsky
by Charles Bukowski from Bone Palace Ballet: New Poems
against the wall, the firing squad ready.
then he got a reprieve.
suppose they had shot Dostoevsky?
before he wrote all that?
I suppose it woulnd't have
mattered
not directly.
there are billions of people who have
never read him and never
will.
but as a young man I know that he
got me through the factories,
past the whores,
lifted me high through the night
and put me down
in a better
place.
even while in the bar
drinking with the other
derelicts,
I was glad they gave Dostoevsky a
reprieve,
it gave me one,
allowed me to look directly at those
rancid faces
in my world,
death pointing its finger
I held fast,
an immaculate drunk
sharing the stinking dark with
my
brothers.
© 1997 by Linda Lee Bukowski
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says jeff upon reading this over my shoulder: "man, i need to read some more of him....its hard to read, but inspiring."
ReplyDeletesays katie...i like the poem. haven't attempted the subject.
When you get some time I highly recommend "Crime and Punishment". I realized the true meaning of literary genius after reading that book.
ReplyDeleteBukowski's worth a read too, different, but good stuff.