“if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.
if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.
don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.
when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.
there is no other way.
and there never was.”
Charles Bukowski, 1920 – 1994
I think this poem speaks volumes to anyone that has tried to achieve or become great at something in their lives. Not just in terms of writing, but anyone who wants to become anything, whether it be a musician and actor or even a painter. Here Bukowski reminds us to work and persevere at our passions for the right reasons. For us remain authentic and not just try and replicate and leech of somebody else’s success. So many writers, musicians or artists try to copy other peoples styles. Style is everything and to make an impact I feel you need to put parts of yourself into your work. This can’t be done unless what you are doing creates energy, until you need your passion more than the air that breath.
What are you doing right now?
Like many people you may be stuck in a job that you hate. Doing the things that you think you should be doing. Rather than doing the things you want to be doing. Just stop for a moment. Think. Is this what I want to be doing? Is this what I am passionate about. If the answer is no then you need to throw away societies expectations and do what you love. Don’t wait for the right time. The right time is now. If it’s what you want, than the right time always and always has been now. Otherwise, you may find yourself at age 60 miserable and unfulfilled. With nothing to show for it but a nice house and a lifetime of regret.
After all, nobody sits on their death bed wishing they had spent more time working and doing things they don’t enjoy.
–THE LONELY CROWDED WEST–
Some great books by Bukowski
The Pleasures of the Damned: Selected Poems 1951-1993
The Lonely West 