Bukowski In High School Poem by Stephen Roxborough

donated his mind and body to science

experimented with sweet cheap wine that
coated his stomach in wrong cough syrup

tasted like a budget circus of dark sound
with dayglo flavors racing around on fumes
amid aftermath of a four clown car crash

all trying to escape the other yet all crushed
together in the mangled wreck of the same
youth green massproduced fortified rotgut
screwtop spew swilled brownbag bottle

some say its a hardfought acquired taste
but after a month it matured into a labor of love
strong ambition for downandout exploration
falling all over himself flying into orbit about
contagious waves of giggles and guffaws

he raised the standard of abstract expression
elevated projectile vomit to a primal art form
even jackson pollock envied his designs

left to himself he slowly circled the opponent
in his ring of olympic thoughts breaking noses
in clouded mirrors with bloodied knuckles

when breakfast backed up and out he contemplated
chemicals from his stomach that bleach concrete

dedicated to the zen of lost weekends