Go all the way.

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if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.

I've been trying to figure these words out for the better part of five years. I think. Maybe more, I don't really remember the first time I discovered Charles Bukowski, I just know I was a kid and his writing and his lifestyle of hookers and booze and writing just blew my mind. I knew I wanted to be a writer and the moment I first read him, I knew I wanted that. That life.
Well, maybe not exactly, but that reality. Because that's the mind-blowing thing about him, he's real. He's talking to you, in a poem, in a book, and it's as if you're drinking with him in a low-down rented flat. Wasted out of your mind and down on your luck. Somehow, he reaches out to you at your very worst and that's something few people can do, because you're pretty nasty at your very worst. And he gets that and he's speaking to you regardless. Because of, even.

_{Roll the Dice - read by Tom O'Bedlam}

He's that no-bullshit guy you've been looking for half your life. Or at least, I have. You can read thousands of lists and tips on writing, on creating art, but it seems to me this guy is the most on point. That's all there is.

you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, its
the only good fight
there is.

When someone offers you that, how do you say no? When someone tells you you could do this, you could be the one riding life, just like him, why would you refuse?

Bukowski was a phenomenon. He wrote about the poor, the down-trodden, the realities of life, in all their torturous, dirty beauty. There was no sugar-coating with this guy, no shying away, because he understood what life was about. We all like to play coy and hide behind our hands, but when it's us down and out, when we're fucked up over someone or struggling with addiction or with disappointment, when we're stuck in a rut, unable to break out of our bubble, when we become boring and dull and when we repeat ourselves incessantly, driving ourselves insane – there's him. And he gets it.

He's a fucking hero, that's what he is. Because he makes it okay to be apart, to be you, to be very very different from others. He makes it okay to fall. For me, he teaches that it's okay to linger down there a while, once you've fallen, that sometimes the darkness isn't the worst thing that can happen and that you can learn a lot by exploring it. You can stay in the dark, because a lot of people are just afraid to stay, since they don't have that permission.
He gives you permission and he teaches you you don't need no permission, isn't that strange?

_{Genius of the Crowd - read by Bukowski himself}

This poem, to me, is a revelation. Bukowski was always so good at seeing through the bullshit, cutting through it like a knife and addressing what was burning you inside and this is something that burns us all. Because deep down, not one of us is truly at home in the crowd. We're individuals staring into this frightful mass that is the herd and he sees that.

And then, of course, there's Hank.

Many of you might remember the HBO TV series that ran for some six years a while back. Californication, anyone?

That show and the character of Hank Moody is heavily based on Bukowski and his life. (His full name was Henry Charles Bukowski and he was often called...yeah, you guessed it, Hank.)

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Now, I know that if I hadn't been a fan of Bukowski before, I would've become one when I watched that show. First, well, because David Duchovny is amazing. That kinda sums it up. But basically, because of who Hank is. I mean, I know a lot of people who only remember the copious amounts of sex from that show and whenever I meet someone like that, I'm like 'well, you completely missed the point'.
I mean sure, the sex is great. But, that's not really what the show's about. It's about this fucked up life, it's about screwing up, about falling down, it's about chaos and redemption. It's about your life. It's not just a show about sex, drugs and rock n roll, though there is a lot of that going on too. It's about all those things Bukowski stood for, about finding yourself in all the crazy.

And I think everyone needs that.

Now, I do hope you go read some of his work. Anything, really. A poem, a book or ten. I'm gonna go watch some Californication.

Thank you for reading,