PoemAre You Drinking?
Author / PoetCharles Bukowski
TagsDoctor, Drink, Track

washed-up, on shore, the old yellow notebook
out again
I write from the bed
as I did last
year.
will see the doctor,
Monday.
“yes, doctor, weak legs, vertigo, head-
aches and my back
hurts.”
“are you drinking?” he will ask.
“are you getting your
exercise, your
vitamins?”
I think that I am just ill
with life, the same stale yet
fluctuating
factors.
even at the track
I watch the horses run by
and it seems
meaningless.
I leave early after buying tickets on the
remaining races.
“taking off?” asks the motel
clerk.
“yes, it’s boring,”
I tell him.
“If you think it’s boring
out there,” he tells me, “you oughta be
back here.”
so here I am
propped up against my pillows
again
just an old guy
just an old writer
with a yellow
notebook.
something is
walking across the
floor
toward
me.
oh, it’s just
my cat
this
time.

Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski
16 Aug 1920 - 9 Mar 1994
Region: Central America
Movement: Dirty Realism, Transgressive Fiction
Awards: National Endowment For The Arts

more poems by Charles Bukowski

Poem NameTopic
The History Of One Tough MotherfuckerFinally, Motherfucker, Night
The ShowerBall, Leg, Peaceful
So You Want To Be A WriterWriter
Yes YesCreate, God, Universe
Poetry ReadingsAmerica, Genius, Poetry
Like A Flower In The RainApple, Breast, Cigarette
The Most Beautiful Woman In TownBeautiful, Girl, Sister
Prayer In Bad WeatherBedrooms, Rain, Umbrella
To The Whore Who Took My PoemsCarbons, Poems, Poetry
SplashBrian, Poem, Room

all poems by Charles Bukowski

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