Freedom Poem by Charles Bukowski

Freedom

Rating: 3.6


he drank wine all night of the
28th, and he kept thinking of her:
the way she walked and talked and loved
the way she told him things that seemed true
but were not, and he knew the color of each
of her dresses
and her shoes-he knew the stock and curve of
each heel
as well as the leg shaped by it.

and she was out again and when he came home,and
she'd come back with that special stink again,
and she did
she came in at 3 a.m in the morning
filthy like a dung eating swine
and
he took out a butchers knife
and she screamed
backing into the rooming house wall
still pretty somehow
in spite of love's reek
and he finished the glass of wine.

that yellow dress
his favorite
and she screamed again.

and he took up the knife
and unhooked his belt
and tore away the cloth before her
and cut off his balls.

and carried them in his hands
like apricots
and flushed them down the
toilet bowl
and she kept screaming
as the room became red

GOD O GOD!
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

and he sat there holding 3 towels
between his legs
no caring now whether she left or
stayed
wore yellow or green or
anything at all.

and one hand holding and one hand
lifting he poured
another wine

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Ross Vassilev 02 February 2008

One stupid poem unless it's based on a real-life case.

0 21 Reply
Jack Turner 18 February 2007

wow.

10 3 Reply
Castellenas John 20 March 2019

Charles is amazing. One of my favorite poem.

0 2 Reply
Lil Pump 12 February 2018

Imma do this with Icarly

2 6 Reply
Alex Jr. 08 October 2017

I cant decide if this is the most romantic or realistic poem ever.

1 6 Reply
Andrew kopf 30 December 2014

SG, I read a few interpretations and one of them seemed quite fitting. It stated that abscising his nuts is symbolic of how the U.S. society is predominantly sex-driven. He wanted nothing but her with his manhood in tact. But without, he only wanted another glass of wine.

4 3 Reply
Shadow Girl 15 June 2011

Might have to read this one a few more times to get the drift of what he is trying to say here - can anyone enlighten me? SG

4 7 Reply
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