me

me

women don’t know how to love,

she told me.

you know how to love

but women just want to

leech.

I know this because I’m a woman.

hahaha, I laughed.

so don’t worry about your breakup

with Susan

because she’ll just leech onto

somebody else.

we talked a while longer

then I said goodbye

hungup

went into the crapper and

took a good beershit

mainly thinking, well,

I’m still alive

and have the ability to expel

wastes from my body.

and poems.

and as long as that’s happening

I have the ability to handle

betrayal

loneliness

hangnail

clap

and the economic reports in the

financial section.

with that

I stood up

wiped

flushed

then thought :

it’s true:

I know how to

love.

I pulled my pants and walked

into the other room.

Bukowski, Charles. « me », Love is a Dog From Hell, Poems 1974-1977, Harper Collins 1977, p. 31-32