In another post, I talked about the impact Charles Bukowski had on my conception of poetry and how I write. One of his poems—“air and light and time and space”—has always stuck with me; at some point in the last year I realized it has long been part of my philosophy of writing, albeit subconsciously.
As you’ll see, Bukowski didn’t think creating was the result of perfect conditions. Since I’ve not attracted any patrons that want to pay me to write, I’ve always had a full time job, family, and other responsibilities. Creating has to happen in the car, between chores, in the shower, on weekends, or in the middle of the night. I’m glad Bukowski’s words have been rattling around my subconscious, or I wouldn’t have written anything.
It’s strange and fascinating that we can be influenced, even motivated, by things we’re unaware of. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates was on to something, though I would add that examining your life takes your whole life. I first read Bukowski’s poem in my 20s, and I only realized at 50 that it was part of the ethos I hold to as a writer. Makes me wonder what other surprises await 🤔😬😆
For fun, I used an AI image generator to create the pictures in this post: Bukowski and Socrates in a bar. Were it possible for those two to talk, I can’t imagine how that conversation would go. But I would love to overhear it!
air and light and time and space
'- you know, I've either had a family, a job, something
has always been in the
way
but now
I've sold my house, I've found this
place, a large studio, you should see the space and
the light.
for the first time in my life I'm going to have a place and
the time to
create.'
no baby, if you're going to create
you're going to create whether you work
16 hours a day in a coal mine
or
you're going to create in a small room with 3 children
while you're on
welfare,
you're going to create with part of your mind and your
body blown
away,
you're going to create blind
crippled
demented,
you're going to create with a cat crawling up your
back while
the whole city trembles in earthquakes, bombardment,
flood and fire.
baby, air and light and time and space
have nothing to do with it
and don't create anything
except maybe a longer life to find
new excuses
for.
A Wandering Minstrel 