This week’s Wordsmith Wednesday is a Charles Bukowski poem entitled “pernicious anemia.”
It reads:
“I could rest on the past,
there are many books
on the shelves,
the shelves are
overflowing.
I could sleep all day
with my cats.
I could talk to
my neighbor
over the fence,
he’s 96 and
has had a past
too.
I could just flog
life off,
gently wait to
die.
ah, what a horror
that would be;
joining the world’s
way.
I must mount a
comeback.
I must crawl
inch by inch
back in-
to the sun of creation.
let there be light!
let there be me!
I will beat
the odds
one more
time.”
I always look back at this poem as one of Bukowski’s more positive pieces. He speaks of overcoming the dreariness and normalcy of life and being more, attempting to become something significant. This poem reminds me to push on and not become wrapped up in the potential monotony of life. Persevere forward and make a difference.
Sobotka Literary Magazine 
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Not disagreeing with you, merely saying this is one of the worst poems ever written. In fact, it is so weak and lame and comes across like something so many so-called poets over the decades with nothing to say, (would’ve written) that I stayed away from their work.
I never read poetry until I came across Bukowski in the late 70s. I read him because, well, I still think about a third of his stuff is genius, a third fair, and the last third worthless drool––like the poem above.
Kirk Alex,
author of the Chance “Cash” Register Working Stiff Series