Bukowski's Red Carpet On Site...(A Tribute) Poem by Frank James Ryan Jr...fjr

Bukowski broke all the rules
we must honor on this Site,
explicitly,
expressively,
direct and colloquial,
and, with all respect due,
who are we, really,
let's talk...be real,
as the facts can't deny
that our round pens and flat page
be no different than his;
he drank, he smoked
as most of us do,
he lived, and died
as all of us do;
but he took modern free-verse
and stirred in some prose
and created a style,
conversational verse,
creative, offensive,
nothing held back,
nothing to fear,
with his audience smack-
in the palms of his hands,
employing ripe parlance
as raw as cracked skin,
or like they who scrub pots
without Olay or playtex.

And imagine, God help us,
if we took on his lead-
to express our distress
with the damn anglo-saxons,
and, assertions, perversions;
my God, how we'd be
looking for our poems
under 'D' for DELETE!

Yet, take a few moments
surf o'er to Buke'
and you will see all that we
cannot write or post.
But, the real question here,
is should a famous poet
be posted on Site,
despite his violations
of the rules on this Site?

Maybe yes, after all,
who here writes like Charlie wrote;
Maybe, no, as there be no-
poetic privilege, I'm aware of,
and remember, he and we
use round pens and flat page,
and just between us,
so please keep it, hush-hush,
but I hear-tell one morning
as the sun was vaguely dawning,
ole Buke' once was seen

(by one of his fans
while jogging past the home
of the famed Laureate) ,

putting on his trousers
one leg at a time....
Just like us...
No Way!
Yes, way...
So, Imagine that? !


FjR-MMXX