Bluebird: Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski is a German-born American author, often considered one of the most important writers of the 20th century for his insights into lower-class life. Bukowski novels deal with complex issues like alcoholism, loneliness, and especially poverty- but through the lens of comedic relief. His novels are cigarette-stained comedies that recognize some of the darkest places the human soul can go- addiction, loneliness- and then spend a good few hours making fun of them. Post Office, one of his most famous books, is about a sex-starved, drunk mailman named Chinaski and his adventures. And despite how wretched Chinaski really is--he steals communion wine from a church, among other things--you cant help but laugh reading the book. Thats the magic of it. 

Bukowski was another side of Chinaski- indeed, Chinaski is usually considered to be Bukowski's alter ego. Bukowski, like his character, was a drunk. A witty one, a very smart one, but a drunk nonetheless. He was able to look past the problems in his own life though- was able to make fun of them. And that was what I was expecting when I read Bluebird--a work alternating between dark humour and farce, maybe with a sexual misadventure or a drunken brawl. 

Ironically, the best word to describe the poem would be sobering. 

Here is the first stanza:

"there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there."

The poem is written in free verse. There is use of meter and rhythm in the poem produced by the way the work is broken into lines. Use of these lines is probably intended to give the impression of a great deal of space between words in the poem to contribute to the atmosphere of depression the diction produces. And it works; you can almost hear a little bluebird singing away. The bluebird appears to be  a metaphor for the pain that Bukowski feels, and the agony of living underneath a premise- hiding ones true feelings. Something as innocent, small, and timid as a bluebird is the perfect contrast for the dark elements of Bukowski's world and of the writing that surrounds the bluebird. What better contrast for whores, whiskey, and cigarettes than an innocent little bird? 

Bukowski lived in poverty for much of his life- the income he made writing was the most he had ever  had.  Fear of losing book sales may have driven a lot of his writing- see these lines from Bluebird:

"I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?"

Bukowski was forced to look himself in the mirror every morning, at the harshest, most tormenting and wrenching parts of his soul, and then sit down for the day and make fun of it in his novels.  Bukowski knew just how bad his pain really was, what he maybe even really wanted to write down what he really felt on that paper. Bluebird is his way of expressing this pain. 

But the most memorable part of the poem is the ending, where Bukowski does not just accept his refusal to address his pain- he questions yours. 

Full link to the poem: http://allpoetry.com/poem/8509539-Bluebird-by-Charles_Bukowski