A Following

"Writing" by Charles Bukowski (1991)

Another late-period poem reflecting on the significance of writing, in “Writing” we learn that this human practice “blasts the / darkness” and

is the

ultimate

psychiatrist (Lines 21-23).

“Writing” also provides insight into some of the tricky ironies, ambiguities and representational sleights of hand that turn up in “A Following,” such as when it affirms the following:

writing

laughs

at itself,

at pain (Lines 31-34).

Does “writing” in this line refer to the act of jotting something down or to the result left on the page? How is it possible for writing—an inert material object—to laugh at itself? Crucially, the poem leaves open-ended the question of whether it defines “writing” in terms of the act of representation or as the specific content of a given representation, inviting audiences to reflect upon the transformations both aspects perform between the real world and the fictional world created for readers.

"Alone with Everybody" by Charles Bukowski (1977)

One of Bukowski’s most famous poems, “Alone with Everybody” addresses the problem of human loneliness more directly and with fewer consolations than “A Following.” As its title suggests, the problem of loneliness or aloneness here is not as simplistic a matter as merely finding other people to spend time with, as Chinaski’s callers do in “A Following,” but is built into the singleness of the human mind or subjectivity.