in a stranger ocean than I wished
Parachutes, My Love, Could Carry Us Higher
A poem by Barbara Guest
This is one of my favorite poems. Barbara Guest (1920-2006) was a poet of the New York school, which also included John Ashbery, another poet whose work I admire.
Roll the Dice
Speaking of stranger oceans, here’s a great poem–and challenge–by Charles Bukowski:
if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.
if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.
go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.
if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.
do it, do it, do it.
do it.
all the way
all the way.
you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, it’s
the only good fight
there is.
Related articles
- Quick Questions by John Ashbery: review (telegraph.co.uk)
- Three Interpretations of Charles Bukowski’s Melancholy Poem “Nirvana” (openculture.com)
give me a daisy 