(My contribution, was to loosen and simplify poetry, to make it more human.I taught them that you can write a poem the same way you can write a letter,that a poem can even be entertaining, and that there need not be anything necessarily holy about it....quote-charles bukowski 1974)

I read Bukowski

I remember
the first time
I read Bukowski
snatched my attention
with his convictions
booze hound
women wader
gambling guy
a wretched wreck

I read Bukowski
brilliant rubies
bled on pages
I sucked
like a hungry vamp
eyes drunk on his muse
reading more needing more
like an addict
unsatisfied with less

I read Bukowski
I hear him
laughing from his grave
at me
at all of us
at himself

lucky hank



---

December in Maui

standing barefoot
on black pavement
in an all-day heat
I found
my hot summer



---

I know..
beyond understanding
instinct guides my journey
like a mystic without form

a spiritual sanctuary
an easy breath
an open heart
I fear what I know
I fear for nothing less

fire without light
burns emptiness
without knowledge
my youth
would resurrect
and fall from the sky
wingless

I fear what I know
I fear nothing less



---

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     I am a Canadian, yes , but I had the smarts and moved to the west coast, traded my snow shovel in for an umbrella. It was the best choice of survival. I love the arts and have been writing poetry since I was a little girl. This is my first submission so perhaps I am finally growing up. Since giving up the 9-5 I have time to do the things I love, write, paint, chat and sit in the sun. cheers! Happy New Year to everyone at the-hold!