VODKA EN BUKOWSKI
Persiflage.
Het woord 'bukolisch' wil zeggen,: Idyllisch - Landlijk - Betreffende het herderlijke of landelijke leven.
Dit heeft natuurlijk niets te maken met het talent, de vodka en drankzucht van Charles Bukowski.
De boeken die daar lagen deden mij denken aan de soms onverteerbare literatuur van Bukowski en de lege
flessen aan zijn alcoholisme. Het samenspel van deze foto's in dit log vind ik een rake persiflage over deze
beroemde Amerikaanse schrijver. Het is deze maand twintig jaar geleden dat Charles Bukowski overleed.
Bukowski was de held van de tegencultuur, een knap dichter en iemand die velen op het pad van het
schrijven heeft gebracht door zijn ruige, gemakkelijk toegankelijke ingesteldheid. Zijn verhalen gingen
meestal over seks, drank en geldgebrek. Door zijn rauwe toon en realistische thematiek bereikte zijn werk
een absolute cultstatus.
“Drinking is an emotional thing. It joggles you out of the standardism of everyday life, out of everything being
the same. It yanks you out of your body and your mind and throws you against the wall. I have the feeling
that drinking is a form of suicide where you're allowed to return to life and begin all over the next day. It's
like killing yourself, and then you're reborn. I guess I've lived about ten or fifteen thousand lives now.”
Charles Bukowski
“Nothing was ever in tune. People just blindly grabbed at whatever there was: communism, health foods,
zen, surfing, ballet, hypnotism, group encounters, orgies, biking, herbs, Catholicism, weight-lifting, travel,
withdrawal, vegetarianism, India, painting, writing, sculpting, composing, conducting, backpacking, yoga,
copulating, gambling, drinking, hanging around, frozen yogurt, Beethoven, Back, Buddha, Christ, TM, H,
carrot juice, suicide, handmade suits, jet travel, New York City, and then it all evaporated and fell apart.
People had to find things to do while waiting to die. I guess it was nice to have a choice.”
Charles Bukowski
“There's nothing to mourn about death any more than there is to mourn about the growing of a flower. What
is terrible is not death but the lives people live or don't live up until their death. They don't honor their own
lives, they piss on their lives. They shit them away. Dumb fuckers. They concentrate too much on fucking,
movies, money, family, fucking. Their minds are full of cotton. They swallow God without thinking, they
swallow country without thinking. Soon they forget how to think, they let others think for them. Their brains
are stuffed with cotton. They look ugly, they talk ugly, they walk ugly. Play them the great music of the
centuries and they can't hear it. Most people's deaths are a sham. There's nothing left to die.”
Charles Bukowski
“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily
accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and
discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here
to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are
here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”
Charles Bukowski
“If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives,
relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing
on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean 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. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.”
Charles Bukowski
“That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink
in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens
you drink to make something happen.”
Charles Bukowski
“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
Charles Bukowski
“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.”
Charles Bukowski