“your poems about the girls will still be around
50 years from now when the girls are gone,”
my editor phones me.

dear editor:
the girls appear to be gone
already. 

i know what you mean

but give me one truly alive woman
tonight
walking across the floor toward me

and you can have all the poems

the good ones
the bad ones
or any that I might write
after this one.

i know what you mean.

do you know what I mean? 

Charles, the feeling is mutual.

charles bukowskipoemtonight

there are worse things than

being alone

but often it takes decades

to realize this

and most often

when you do

it’s too late

and there’s nothing worse

than

too late.

charles bukowskipoemoh yes

and I don’t even have anyone to discuss it with.

has robbed me of like 72,000 plays and I could actually cry.