if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.
if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.
don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.
when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.
there is no other way.
and there never was.
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Comments
1 - 56 of 56
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This is the greatest definition of a poet or writer that I've ever seen - I could never dream of defining it as such.....SO glad to see He did.
ya All-Ways, ~ Jan ~
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This guy is great in small doses.
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Thoroughly clichéd, alas.
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It is a fine piece
and I like it. I think I get it, without needing to. What interests me more, is would this author question if all these commentators, felt a need for this outpour. -
Bravo.
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A fine example of Bukowski speaking his mind - which he did quite often. So much passion in this work, so much truth.
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From guest adam gardner (contact)
Wrong, the greatest writers have always revised their works. "don't do it" My god to think this crap "poured out" of someone... What if your in school? Can I do it for an A? -
Absolutely perfect. And 100% correct.
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Exactly. Just... exactly. Yeah.
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Wow.
From guest nahb123 (contact)
That was quite discouraging to me, as I am one of the said writers who doesn't always write with raw emotions. Still, I cannot deny that it's true; that the works that speak to you are the ones written straight from the heart. Sometimes, though, those works are not read, and you may wait forever with nothing inspiring coming out of you. I get the gist though, and I agree. But, sometimes, you just have to force it out. -
So true
The saddest thing in the world is when you want to do something so badly, but it's just not what you are meant to do. I think you gave the advice that everybody should get very well. good job. -
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So You Want To Be A Writer
From guest Richard Parkins (contact)
Truer words were never written down I have these day when nothing comes out. I don’t try to force it. Because I have learned over the years is crap if it is forced. But those days when everything flows from my head onto paper are amazing. It may still be crap but it is mine and it is honest. -
I love this
Poems that come from emotions straight from the heart will speak to EVERYONE not just those that can understand the imagery and the vocabulary used. Sometimes when a poem is pure (which it should be or as the man says above or you shouldn't do it) the rawest words are used, Sometimes simple vocabulary is used sometimes it rhymes and sometimes it doesn't, BUT it always makes a point! A poet becomes a poet as the man says; because it is the only way to get out what they need to say without hurting someone or themselves. Poems with raw emotion are the ones I like writing and reading! I tried the technical stuff because I was new and thought that is the way I had to write, but I have come to realized that I can do it if I choose to, but i rather write from emotion, trying to be too technical literally sucked all the passion from my writes. -
Yes and no
From guest Harry Calhoun (contact)
Well, as someone who once published a booklet of Bukowski's poems ("then I gave up and started drinking heavily," Pig in a Poke Press, 1985) I don't totally agree with the premise of this poem. Both as a marketing writer (day job) and as a poet, I think that sometimes what you write without passion or inspiration is indistinguishable from what you write when the muse is speaking to you. Frankly, after writing for a living for most of my 55 years, if I waited for passion or inspiration to write, I would spend a lot more time waiting than writing. I would also be unemployed, because my clients don't give a rip whether I'm inspired or not. They want good copy that sells products. Sorry to take the mystique our of this, but poetry is a lot like marketing writing: You are writing to sell the reader on your premise. I don't think that Bukowski absolutely believes what he is saying in this poem, but I do think that there is value in what he is saying. When Keats said, in Ode on a Grecian Urn, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," do you think for a second that he believed this, or that anyone who takes a hard look at life can believe it? In a poem similar in theme to "So you want to be a writer" called "Friendly advice to a lot of young men," Bukowski says, "Ride a camel ... paint your shoes blue ... brush your teeth with gasoline ... but don't write poetry." He's making a point, but I doubt that he believes this absolutely. He's just sayin' the same thing he is here ... if you can't bring more passion to this than repairing your clogged drain, then don't bother. BTW: Great poem, in any case. -
Ahmen!
Made me tear up a bit, in a manly way of course
This gives me courage and peace of mind. Poetry, or any art for that matter that comes out of the head can be clever and technically brilliant but it is all ultimately sterile and empty. Poetry or art that comes from the heart or the gut no matter how crude will speak across the ages as this poem does.
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From guest Ray (contact)
Bad presentation of idea but still capability of cheering someone with natural talent or hurting the contrary. -
This is so true
From guest RA (contact)
This is so very true. You can simply not just write when you dont have the feeling within. That is what separates the best reads from the millions of books on the shelf today. -
Bravo
From guest Birdie Stringfellow (contact)
One of the best poems I have ever read and full of worthy advice. I will live by this message in many ways. -
quite motivating for my journalism course : )
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this poem speaks to me
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excellent
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words of wisdom
From guest Mike (contact)
My English teacher once told me that writers don't write because they like to; they write because they have to. -
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I agree.
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I like that!
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tears
From guest lou (contact)
everytime i read this i cry. i want to be a writer.and there is no other way. and there never was. -
I feel the same way.....Awesome thoughts......in an awesome way....
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Are you speaking to me?
I can't believe that as I sit here and read this, that I ever thought that I was the only one. I hate it when I haven't written in forever, but at the same time knowing to wait for that...rocket to take off inside. The only time that the words come freely, and mean the most! -
same with art
From guest sarahelizabeth (contact)
i love this poem, and feel the same way about artists. -
Tears are springing.....
I hate it when I don't write! As much as my mouth moves, there's no comparison to what happens when I'm in the very space you speak of - that's always when the very best stuff happens.....when you do it because you must!
Thanks for this - makes me feel a little less pain when I'm just not feeling it.
Sincerely,
~ Janet ~ -
Tribute
From guest Buk fan (contact)
I visit this poem like it was your tombstone, Buk and it refreshes me like water to a man thirsting in the desert. No other writer of any generation has ever spoken to me the way your work, and particularly this poem, has. Thank you. I leave this tribute as a pilgrim might leave flowers. -
i agree with you buk... i wish you were here, i would like to pat your shoulder... these are very honest advices.
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Like his style so enjoyed reading this poem - copied his style in my poem "The Shoot". Liked the flow and the rambling of these thoughts that just seem to go on and on. Glad to have read this today.
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Whether there is any truth in this or not, I do love Charles Bukowski. A genius of a bum.
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Maybe he is just talking to himself. That's what I think, he is talking to himself.
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wow, this is brill!
wonderful writter here
stephanie ♥ -
Genius
And not just because I completely agree with everything he says here! -
wow - what can I say? this is so true. and I have to admit that from this point of view, most of my poems should never have been written.
such a great poem - glad I had the chance to read it! -
"A poet is born,not made" and he was explaining this.
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I agree, forced writes never go over well
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great poem
From guest Zachary (contact)
I think this is what everyone should understand. forcing something out of your mind has little value! right on -
The wrath of semantics
From guest Alex (contact)
The rare beauty of the organization of semantics, is indicative of the writers often harsh internal climate. How potent our art, that we should lay out humankinds most emotional organs, for the lamen to dissect. Our own, which always translates to someone elses, is the funnel of the writer's fears. I am one, who is never ready, because the proofreader rarely dares to understand. I do not entreaty the printed pages design, nay, I am its slave. Thank you Bukowski, for reminding me, that release does not spring from the individual who cowers at misunderstanding or reprisal. -
camo beer is so passe
From guest Noel (contact)
To me, when I read this I think of inspiration and being true to yourself. -
A Writers prayer
From guest Disciple (contact)
I've read every poem by Bukowski on this site and they all have something, some much more than others, but this one is just so head and shoulders above anything else by him, or anybody else for that matter. It continually draws me back like a magnet and I believe it should be every writer's mantra and prayer. It not only carries this great writer's voice but even his tone. It makes my spirit soar. Thank you Charles Bukowski. -
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Fabulously wonderful comment.....
The above pretty much said it - Loved your comment. Mantra and prayer indeed!
Sincerely,
~ Janet ~
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To Each His Own
From guest milady (contact)
Even the greatest artists start by making drafts of their masterpiece(s). I have no idea who Bukowski is (this is the first work of his that I've read), but it sounds to me like most of this poem *means* the exact opposite of what it *says* (in a very dull manner, incidentally)... And I think it applies to much more than writing! Oh well... to each his own... -
danny wynn
From guest daniel wynn (contact)
Oh my jesus that was dull as ever, it seemed quickened and half arsed half way through.it makes a point about only doing what you think your good at but people have to start somewhere even if its at the bottom, someone should do a poem about trying hard in everything you do. -
What an interesting write, this really said a lot to me...A friend reccommended it and I am very glad he did, it explains well what he ws trying to say to me....I am at the point now where everything doesn't want to come...So in his words I think I will just be patient until again they do
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I rather enjoy the down to earth approach of this author. His poems all say to me "Read me if you like, if you don't like...tough"
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An original S.O.B. but a gifted poet
i do not find this at all “pretentious or arrogant” as someone said. i heard him read this and the way he said it, the way he carried the words aloud in that dusty alcoholic drone of a voice he had made it sound like more a warning, that writer’s are given a mandate to rise above the mundane, those of us who pretend to write. it is a sound bit of advice, i think, where, what we put out on paper, should mean something more than words running down a page – that there should be an energy of soul that drives us, compels us, to create something beyond our own need to express ourselves as if fire were dwelling behind our eyes and in our fingers – and THAT, is poured out onto the page and into the reader’s heart. Bukowski, he was a real, authentic, writer; i just pretend. -
if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
lol
I heard he couldn't keep a job -
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Lol, perhaps he never found one worth keeping
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While I enjoy Bukowski
From guest Stefan (contact)
I also find this poem pretenious and arrogant. As a previous commenter noted, Bukowski -- though a master storyteller -- is probably not the best model for other writers. As an oft published writer, I find nothing wrong with taking the time to put together the right words, writing and rewriting until the work is just so. It is, after all, going to be published. And the idea that writers are somehow "chosen" is just artistic snobbery. Writers write for thousands of different reasons. To say Bukowski's were somehow better or more meaningful is, again, just the kind of boring pretention he claims should be avoided. Sorry Buk, while I love most of your work, I can't say I share your perspective here. -
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Let the world and any 'writers' here judge your response. That you have a different perspective is very clear. Mr. Bukowski would be gratified I'm certain.
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Dear Dead Poet,
From guest Rural Community Event (contact)
Although this is written with conviction, and is not valueless, not everyone is you. They vomit what they've eaten: the air they've been breathing, that everyone else as been breathing. -
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The Question is
From guest Ellen Clare (contact)
Is it good when you it comes out of you the first time? If not, you are no more a poet than someone that has to rewrite it a million times to get it right. It doesn't work that way for me, but there could be a happy medium for some people. -
so you want to be a writer
From guest jaime travis (contact)
Don't do it if you already understand too deeply. Leave it to others to wail out the agony, the despair, the emptiness. That you already have by the throat. -
I love this piece every time I read it. SO perfectly written, I have the urge though to throw it in the face of those "so called writters" Yes especially those who pick up the dictionary for their inspiration
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Brings on smiles for miles!
From guest suseann (contact)
Charles Bukowski gives sound directives on the theme of writing in this bit of humor. Loved this as I see some of this failure to communicate ideas in myself and others who at times try far too hard uninspired.It's fair to say. I myself have deleted nearly as many as I've ever written and posted. -
simple simon
From guest Dragon-Dancer (contact)
i agree with prayer, as your words still ring true. why live anothers dream when we have our own. and i dont think any of you should yelp about the pot his words are cooked in as you all have some interest/curiosity in this man, you are here write? keep you mind and your eyes open: you will make something tasty and sweet even from the most bitter herbs. :) -
eye opening
From guest Syed Ali (contact)
After reading this poem I got a clear concept of differce in doing correct thing and perfect thing.specially after reading the following lines... if you first have to read it to your wife or your girlfriend or your boyfriend or your parents or to anybody at all, you're not ready. Thanks Syed Ali Sagar -
From guest tom (contact)
bukowski lies all the time. He said it in interviews. Frankly, he was rarely this melodramatic. I love Bukowski, but he's a bad model for most writers. He only ever wrote about himself. His style is incredible, but the contents of his stories are always veiled fragments of his own life. he's great to read because his life was more screwed up than most and he gave ordinary people a window in to true destitution and the ammorality that arises from hopelessness and frustration. You can't read to deep into him. He was simpy describing himself very, very well. And don't forget...he lies. -
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Old Buk...
Nailed it once again... -
Heart breakingly true
I have struggled many a time reaching out for the words to come.. and ya know i never did it if it seemed like work. This poem is accurate, true, and great advice in my opinion. I like this author.. very very down to earth and realistic.. touch of humor as well in some of his poems. -
Sorry to be pedantic, but ...
I can't believe this poem was written in 1960. Who wrote poetry on computers in 1960? Did computers even have screens back then? -
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You're probably correct. The reference has been removed for now.
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great!
I love this poem. It feels right. But it also feels exclusive. Maybe poetry is? I don't know. Maybe it's not supposed to be read as instructive, though. Maybe, he's just trying to touch inspiration's roots, not say how something should be done. I know other poets say just write and write and write and if you write enough, a poem a day perhaps, you might write enough good poems for a small chapbook by the time you're 90. Maybe. -
I really like this. I can't really think of what to say except that I know people who are the writers who have to bleed their writing out of themselves drop by drop. They wring their skin out till its papery and dry and they still don't have enough, still don't have anything decent. Sometimes I am one of those people too.
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There is no other way
64 points of truth! -
this is going on my author page....
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inspiration.
I think that's what makes or breaks a poem. that inspiration drives you to write and, if you have the voice to reach the masses or even just a voice to reach the inner person in each of us, your poem will be read and loved.
people like GaryCGibson are only defending themselves. they are offended by bukowski's words and the idea that anyone could write effortlessly and be so widely admired. perhaps even offended at the thought that there are people that are BORN to write poetry.
the intellectual will always find some reason to demean the intuitive. it's the way it's always been. -
hey.. ready for my big powerful hot-shot comment.......
THIS POEM IS AWESOME! -
The first poster is trying too hard. Throw out the thesaurus and write from the heart. Lighten up.
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Bukowski's poem is not a sincere, nor practical piece of advice, and he would have been the first to admit this. There are many places in which Buk talks about the torturous process of writing, of the time it sometimes takes to simply wait until the words come out. "So you want to be a writer?" is a test, a ghost saying "boo" to up-and-coming writers. Anyone who would have been scared away by writing after hearing these words, particularly if prose didn't pour forth from their soul such as the poem describes, would not have had a chance in the first place. Writing often equals disappointment. If you are inspired by this poem, wonderful. If you are discouraged by it, check your own desire for the written word.
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truth in words, the main word for this poem is "passion". you gotta have passion to write, so much passion it burns your soul.
and to the first poster.Anyone who starts a sentence with
"if one" has two many brain cells and needs a bottle of whiskey or a joint.then id think you'd understand bukowski. he relates to me cause hes real. -
This has inspired me. I am starting to only write now when the flow hits me, and that is the only time I try to write. I had to come back to this poem, and comment. Bukowski's words are the truth. *nods*
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Mr.Bukowski's words "Don't Do It!. I agree with his premise.
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I like this piece. Most of the commentors above are commenting on the first comment made here, as if they are more important to reply to than to the poem itself. Whereas the first commentor actually commented to the poem itself, whether he agreed or not with it is quite irrelevant and the following commentors should have figured that out, especially if they were reading a Bukowski poem, of all poems.
I agree with it and I also disagree with it. There are valid points to it and like the first commentor, he/she also makes some valid points.
I feel you're either a writer or you're not, you'll know when you're not when every time you get published you have to pay for it and you'll know when you're when you have to pay and as well, at times, don't have to pay.
It's a good piece, a piece worth quoting and shoving into new writer's faces when they begin to bitch about the idiocy they bitch about.
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This poem is amazing and as for the first poster...
Learn to type otherwise why should I bother to take you seriously when trying to discuss something -
From what I know about Bukowski, he likely did follow his own advice.
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i like ALL the poetry of this guy.Sure,he wrote
and discribed his proper life,sure he lied often about himself,but he "lied real"
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Mr. Bukowski's poems were somewhat controversial and varied in quality it was written. Some wer good and others were prosaic perhaps. He once judged a contests at a colleg that I did not win, yet I thought I should write that in order to preclude any chance of evening the score with an unfair critique of this poem in which Bukowski urges writers not to write unless the material is virtually excreted with an unavoidable need and nature.
I don't agree with Mr. Bukowski's premise at all; much writing requires time and patience to achieve, there may be competing social and circumstantial interests that demand one's time to the detriment of production. Writing may require discipline and determination,work and additional effort,contemplation and relaxation may bring about thoughtful insights into the sublime and even beautiful nature of what one should write...There are many other factors that may be precursors and antecedents to writing worthwhile essays of life or thought in addition to spontaneous combustion.
Sure Mr. Bukowski's advice not to write poems unless driven three sheets to the wind under the power of gales of the muse may be appropriate for the sentiments of a poet, but did Mr.Bukowski himself take his own advice in writing this poem on how to write, presumably poems? It isn't as substantial as Alexander pope's 'An Essay on Criticsm' however it is of the same nature in a modern context to a certain degree. Each poem might have been thoughtfully structured at least.
Disingenuous fiction and poetry may be a waste of the reader's time in some instances. Mr. Bukowski is right in that it is easier to write poetry when one's subconscious mind is full and the words just flow out with constructions and observations on a subject seeminglyplucked like a ripe fruit from a tree of inspiration perhaps crossing over at special moments at twilight or before sunrise from a Platonic realm of forms, yek writing modern novels requires substantial physical writing opportunity and security that may be lacking in a corrupt or adverse social environment. Though one might want to construct lengthy and elaborate plots, aesthetic devices and copious verbiage indirect censorship from mass media and covert 'flea bite' broadcast trimming may concatenate a de facto censorship upon an author. Censorship in an ostendsibly free market society is done without legal means through surruptitious and onerous financial pressures to oppress the individual to a fraction of average earnings annually.
With so much computer storage avaialable for so little anyone may write and publish, copyright and conserve their ideas to their heart's contentment without damaging society a bit. In fact it is better to have the ideas of anybody posthumously for future historians than to have just the blank artifacts of a vanished civilization and the pablum and platitudes of elites in the media and a few other eccentrics with an uncontrollable urge to exude written material. An Occam's razor of earnings and time, cost advantage and comparative advantage will be available for the purposes of editing the time investment any individual will choose to put into constructing written passages. Writers must just produce what works they can, as best they can, seeking to improve their technique as might a golfer work on improving putting or punctuation, second drafts or fairway irons, tee shots and first drafts or outlines.
If one considers writing fiction as an art compared to the reverse planning sequence that Robert Falcon Scott might have used in leaving food and fuel caches along the way to the south pole that were nearly enough to allow a safe return, it is evident that in some instances the zen of making an effort to become a great writer of fiction or poems may be worthwhile for itself even though the mission ultimately fails.
Of course, like Vince Lombardi said, 'winning is everything'. While alternatively, Jesus said, 'what profit has a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?'
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