war and peace

to experience
real agony
is
something
hard
to write about,
impossible
to understand
while it
grips you;
you're
frightened
out of
your
wits,
can't sit
still,
move
or even
go
decently
insane.

and then
when your
composure
finally
returns
and you are
able to
evaluate
the
experience
it's almost as
if it
had happened
to
somebody
else

because
look at
you
now:

calm
detached

say

cleaning your
fingernails

looking through
a
drawer
for
stamps

applying
polish
to your
shoes
or
paying the
electric
bill.

life is
and is not
a
gentle
bore.



Charles Bukowski (The People Look Like Flowers At Last, new poems, 2007