I feel like we've all written this poem at some time, in some way

"Bluebird" - Charles Bukowski

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?



I was just introduced to this a few nights ago, and it honestly grabbed me in a way I can't even begin to explain. How many nights have I, have you, have we all lain awake with the bluebird? and what is the significance of bluebird? The beautiful song that we can't/won't let out? Take blue as in the mood, as in we have a struggle inside we can't break free from? I know its not a poem that requires much textual analysis (I'll probably get yelled at for saying that). Each section lands beautifully. If you know even a little bit about Bukowski (as I know very little as of right now...searching for an adequate biography to read over break...) you'll find, even in his other poems, that at times he is quite hard, crude, offensive, and sometimes uses imagery that us downright repulsive. He was also an incredibly hard looking man. But out of all of that rises bluebird, one of the most heartbreaking and tender and beautiful pieces I have ever come across. I held back the urge to cry when this was first read aloud to me. And to me, this is one of the many reasons I adore poetry so much. It's like that buried treasure, that deep and blinding beauty within every single human being, but a beauty that often goes largely unnoticed because either we don't reach down far enough in ourselves to find it, or other people don't bother to look for it in us either. We use understood symbols (letters, words) not to convey or explain, but to evoke. Have you ever seen the juxtaposition of two, three, four words, such a small set of words, that have stirred in you something that no other words could even begin to explain? Language is such a gift, such a mystical thing when I think about how we use it as art to evoke in others the deepest feelings of our humanity. Things that can only be felt, never explained. Sometimes I think, there is so much beauty in the world that is hidden, but that is because true beauty is something so precious that it will never be appreciated unless it is genuinely sought(if you want to ride with me for a second with the whole Platonic idea of true beauty, etc). Don't keep your bluebird inside. Always look for other people's bluebirds.


-J

After A While

after a while you either
learn
or
you do not
the difference between
pity and empathy
hard and strong
love and
temporary madness
after awhile,
you learn

to hear the truth when he
mumbles or pants, 'baby, its you'
he wants all of you
after awhile
you learn what to do

after a while you stop wasting your time
and you stop taking shit
and you're doing just fine

and after a while
for all that you learn
you are back where you started
minus the burn


-J

Mona Lisa Had Other Plans

given the choice of
beauty
or plain
i pick the latter
for what are the beautiful
things anyway
but muses for monuments
paintings, ageless tales,
stuff of legends,
bearers of scales

because that statue hasn't
a beating heart
and can you believe some man actually sat
trying to capture her
in cold stone with dead eyes,
a mockery
robbing her of what she was,
constructing his own instead

and some may say oh how wonderful
to be bound in the annuals of His story
forever like a goddess revered and yes
i would agree, would be an honor
if it were really she

and he even was so gracious to assign
her an ideal
and make her beauty in her blindness
part of her appeal

and so for my choice i inspired not
no followings created
but i was known for what i was
and therefore, celebrated.

-J

I'm not going to wax philosophical. Or wax poetical. Or wax sentimental...

Or wax anything really. I mean, its the winter time and I'm not currently dating, so there's no need.... ;-D

I try to reserve my blog as an unwinding tool and a way to get thoughts out. I don't flesh out any of my writing here, its mainly sketches of thoughts and ideas. Why choose to do it in blog form, when I've done it my whole life in a journal? Well, figured I'd try something new. Eventually I might join an online community of other writers to discuss ideas and such to get feedback, but right now I'm content with my pseudo-anonymity. Blogs are apparently trendy (I missed the whole livejournal/blurty era of online self-disclosure) but none of my friends read this one because frankly, its not about my life (much), therefore, not juicy. ha! I like it.

But like I said, I'm gonna indulge for a moment my excitement over the upcoming break. I'm so excited about so many things, especially the following:

-Seeing the baby (ok, US Marine, but still) Broski
-Seeing my jr. high best friend, who I havent seen in three years!
-Reading mah novelssss
-BAKING COOKIES
-Re-watching LOST season 5 to prepare for Feb. 2nd....
-Working, having a little bit of $$
-SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. Seriously. There are two things I don't get enough of in life, and both of them involve a bed. At least I can catch up on one of those this break ;)
-RAGTIME in NYC with momma and my aunt bobbie. My favorite musical and I've never had the chance to see it live until NOW! (It just got revived in November). I'm going to bawl like the lily-livered sap I really am.


Yeah....life is good. Final presentation at 8am tomorrow (not ok) and then....FIN! END SCENE! So thankful.


Ok, I'll wax philosophical a little bit. Er, meaning I will just reprint someone else waxing philosophical In the honor of the end of the semester, a little gem from Neil Gaiman (Admittedly the only novel I've ever read of his was Stardust and I was introduced to the Sandman series by a former flame, but I havent exactly gotten through all 75 issues, ha) but this quote, which I love, is from one of the earlier ones. I tried to remember it, but ended up having to google to find the whole thing. ANYWAY.

“I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.”

Neil Gaiman

Veritas.

-J

File under 'So Good it Should Be Illegal'

No, I'm not talking about my makeout skills.


Robert. Francis. He's only 21. But damn that kid has something. Please enjoy 'little girl'...the whole suicide references tend to shade it with an emo tint, but if you wait until the end of the song where he makes the Romeo and Juliet reference, he knocks it out of the park and it definitely shines above the 'i need you so much but i'mma gonna go slit my wrists now' template. His voice reminds me of Shawn Mullins (anyone remember him? the Lullabye guy? OK!) So good. Also check out 'Darkness' if you find yourself into his sound.



-J

The ladymonster eats washington!!

i bit that washington, firm, and it was good
and i was naked the way i liked it
no one told me to, that reptile was added
in the editing process
he's what you call a motif

so i was nude and it was good
then scratchy leaves
and skins
and rough fibers
and shrouds
and kimono
then frock then skirt then mini skirt
i never did know why they spent as much time
trying to cover it up
as they did trying to get it off

all i know is as i was enjoying the wind
between my thighs and against my breasts,
sunning my empty back
he and He came to say no
they took one look at the core
and realized what they'd done
before I did. Trying to make sure I never will.



-J

I am the captain of my soul

INVICTUS - William Ernest Henry

OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.





4 months.

-J