Bukowski Quote on Poetry

"what's wrong with poetics, generally, and what a man really NEEDS...you know, when he comes home after they've clubbed him to death, after he comes home with his 3 or 4 greasy pennies of pay and there is the old lady with hair uncombed, yellow teeth, on the phone, running up the phone bill with insane and unreal woman talk; the kids glad to see you - but just for a moment - like a new toy - and you know you ain't you, you're just a dirty dishrag or gum under the seat, you're just stale piss clubbed with a flyswatter. then tell what KIND of poetry is needed..."

-Charles Bukowski, July, 1968
from Selected Letters Volume 2