C H A R L E S B U K O W S K I
[ Charles Bukowski to Ron Silliman March 1967 ]
[ . . . ] I have read the critics — Winters, Eliot, Tate, so forth,
the New Criticism, The New New Criticism, the demands of Shap-
iro, the whole Kenyon crowd, the Sewanee crowd, I used half a life-
time reading the critics, and while I found the content pretensive
I found the style somehow pleasurable, and now it's nice of you
to tell me that the best of them are trying to get "human dignity,
self respect, the kind of pride you find in a wild, free stallion" back
into verse. that sounds as phoney as a horse's rubber asshole to me
but if that is your insight and/or your outlook, it's yours, and fine.
IF ALL ELSE IS UGLY, IS DEADLY, THEN ISN'T IT OUR
DUTY TO BE BEAUTIFUL?" you scream at me in large caps. Ron-
ald, "duty" is a dirty word, and "beautiful" is a put down word. you
want to knock somebody off his dusty little legs — just demand that
he be "beautiful."
( Ecco 2015 )
16 August 1920
Happy Birthday Charles Bukowski
