Charles Bukowski On Web 2.0
- Posted on: May. 5, 2007
- 14 Comments
The Genius Of The Crowd
by Charles Bukowski - 1966
there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average
human being to supply any given army on any given day
and the best at murder are those who preach against it
and the best at hate are those who preach love
and the best at war finally are those who preach peace
those who preach god, need god
those who preach peace do not have peace
those who preach peace do not have love
beware the preachers
beware the knowers
beware those who are always reading books
beware those who either detest poverty
or are proud of it
beware those quick to praise
for they need praise in return
beware those who are quick to censor
they are afraid of what they do not know
beware those who seek constant crowds for
they are nothing alone
beware the average man the average woman
beware their love, their love is average
seeks average
but there is genius in their hatred
there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding solitude
they will attempt to destroy anything
that differs from their own
not being able to create art
they will not understand art
they will consider their failure as creators
only as a failure of the world
not being able to love fully
they will believe your love incomplete
and then they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect
like a shining diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock
their finest art
Posted in 1938 Media, Andrew Keen, Art, Hate, Intuition, Jecklin, Love, Poetry, Robert Bruce, Social Media
he was just a drunk barfly who neglected his Rimbaud and Mallarme studies.
Replyhe was a genius, and he was right.
Replyhttp://www.veoh.com/videos/e103324FkpBdhBe
One of my favorite pieces.
ReplyV -
He didn’t neglect his studies. He was just able at some point to burn them to the ground. To move into an area that was his own.
Not many can. Even less do.
ReplyDon’t try defending him. People either get Bukowski or they don’t.
I get him.
Replyfew people can burn it all to the ground and go on and build their life.
ReplyBukowski may have been a drunk barfly, but this poem is lucid. Casting it as a comment on Web 2.0 is crap, lucid crap.
ReplyMarc- I dont even understand what you said. I guess you hate it and think Im stupid?
ReplyNo, I think its strong material and I’m glad you surfaced it. But, at first I thought you were belittling an excellent poem by associating it with pop-trendy Web 2.0 drivel. Then I figured that you were including Web 2.0 as another mouthpiece for fearmongering and it sort of stopped me in my tracks. Sorry that I didn’t make that clear in my comment - I just serialized my thoughts and missed.
ReplySorry I missed the compliment
ReplyAnyone who really wants to understand Bukowski needs to read “Post Office”.
As far as seeing web 2.0 metaphors in his work, I think I can see why Loren relates to him, and if you’re talking about web 2.0 as a medium and saying that Bukowski’s attitide is the correct one, then yeah, I buy it. If you’re saying that web 2.0 is some inherently beautiful way of expressing yourself, then you’re full of crap.
I think Loren was saying the first thing though, not the second.
As for people who dismiss Bukowski as irrelevant though, he’s one of the most sigificant authors of the 20th century, and one of the top poets the US has produced — ever. People who dismiss him judge his personality (disagreeable) or his subject matter (profane), not his writing.
ReplyYou are correct Jvon.
Replylike all things that are real, you tend to love them cos’ there just there.
Replythe older i get, i see that man like bukowski were allways there… but we - us, were told to ignore them.
i am proud as i am sad; to love what is real.
for it’s my wake up call.
Sam, just beautiful, we tend to ignore many important things.
Reply