Charles Bukowski was a highly influential poet.
His work addresses the misery of living an ordinary life without even realizing it.
He critiques societal ideals. He critiques the 9 to 5 job.
In a world where everyone wanted a stable job and a house in the suburbs,
he wanted something else. He wanted to live his own life in his own way.
He refused to just one more mediocre soul in the crowd.
And for that, he opened the eyes of countless people with his art.
His provocation touched deeply on people’s feelings and desires.
And made some of them want to do more. I hope you want to do more.
Charles Bukowski: You're doing some dumb thing over and over and over again
you get caught into the stricture of what you're supposed to be. And you have no other choice.
You're finally molded and melded into what you're supposed to be. I didn't like this.
I didn't like the eight-hour job. I didn't even like the four-hour job even though I
couldn't get one. So I decided I'd rather starve or live on the edges of nowhere
and do anything at all than become anything labeled.
Charles was extremely obsessed with his work. He loved writing and he did everything he could
to perfect his skills. Everything.
Once he starved for a full day so he could have an uninterrupted workflow.
This might seem extreme for some,
but is exactly the level of dedication you must have to achieve your goals.
You must obsess to the point of wanting to be successful more than anything else.
You must dedicate yourself. Invest in your talents.
Do it every single day. Every single hour.
Until you are better and better. Closer and closer to where you want to be.
Interviewer:
You say that starving doesn't create art. That it creates many things but mainly it creates time.
Charles Bukowski: Oh yeah, well,
hey that's very basic. I hate to use up your film to say this but, you know,
if you work an eight-hour job and you're going to get fifty-five cents an hour you and I get it.
If you stay home you don't get any money. You're going to have time to write things down on paper.
I guess I was one of those rarities of our modern times who did starve for his art who...
I really starved, you know, to have a 24 hour day unintruded upon by other people. I gave up
food. I gave up everything just to... I was a nut. I was dedicated. But you see, the problem is
you can be a dedicated nut and not be able to do it. Dedication without talent is useless.
Understand what I mean? Dedication alone is not enough. You can starve and want to do it.
Hey, you know. And how many do that? They starve in the gutters and they don't make it.
Interviewer: But you knew you had done.
Charles Bukowski: They all think they had. How do you know that you're the one? You don't know.
It's a shot in the dark. You take it or you become a normal civilized person from eight to five.
Get married, have children. Christmas together. Here comes grandma. Hi grandma,
come on in. Hi you. You know I couldn't take that. I would’ve murdered myself.
I guess just in the blood of me couldn't stand. The whole thing is going on the ordinariness of
life. I couldn't stand family life. I couldn't stand job life. I couldn’t stand anything I
looked at. I just decided I either had to start make it go mad, come through,
or do something. Even if I hadn't made it on writing. Something. I could not do the 8 to 5.
Dare to be different. You mustn’t do things like everyone else.
You must have passion. Your work must be vivid.
When you are passionate about what you do, your craft flourishes.
It becomes evident that there is a stark difference between yourself and other people.
That you are willing to give more. Because you have more inside you to give.
You are a bright star who can open people’s minds just by example.
Just by living your life freely and doing what you want.
Just by being the best version of yourself. Just by doing the work better.
Charles Bukowski:
When you write your words must go like this BIM BIM BIM BIM BIM BIM BIM BIM BIM BIM BIM BIM.
Each line must be full of a delicious little juice flavor. They must be full of power.
They must make you like to turn a page BIM BIM BIM.
What these guys do they say well in the blah blah dadada there was a porch chair. The flies were
walking around. You see, they’re too leisurely. They're setting up the scene for the grand emotion
and when they get to the grand emotion there isn't any. This is a different age. It’s the atomic age.
Each line must have its own power. Its own feeling. Its own juice. Its own flavor.
Writing must never be boring. It must not bore the reader, the writer. It must not bore anybody. You
have to have juice in each line, don't you see? You don't believe me. I'm trying to tell you.
I get so... writers put me to sleep. They always did. They always will. Each line must be an entity
unto itself. But must carry its own like a voltage juice. You can't say Mrs. McGillicutty was sitting
in her chair, it was 3:30 p.m. on a southern morning in Georgia. Mr.McGillicuttygi was.
This is all, is already dead, you see? You must say the thing. The thing.
Above else you must take things to their limits. You must be able to evolve.
Change yourself in the journey. You have to put in great effort
to receive great rewards. You must make up your mind.
Halfway is not good enough. Eighty percent is not good enough.
You must, like Charles said in his poem, go all the way.
*If you're going to try, go all the way.
Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs. And maybe your mind.
It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench.
It could mean jail. It could mean derision.
It could mean mockery, isolation. Isolation is the gift.
All the others are a test of your endurance. Of how much you really want to do it.
And you'll do it, despite rejection in the worst odds.
And it will be better than anything else you can imagine.
If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that.
You will be alone with the gods. And the nights will flame with fire.
You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.