Writing
Writing
a poem by Charles Bukowski
1991
Often it is the only thing between you and
impossibility.
No drink, no woman's love, no wealth can match it.
Nothing can save you except writing.
It keeps the walls from falling.
The hordes from closing in.
It blasts the darkness.
Writing is the ultimate psychiatrist,
the kindliest god of all the gods.
Writing stalks death.
It knows no quit,
and writing laughs at itself, at pain.
It is the last expectation, the last explanation.
That's what it is.
a poem by Charles Bukowski
1991
No drink, no woman's love, no wealth can match it.
Nothing can save you except writing.
It keeps the walls from falling.
The hordes from closing in.
It blasts the darkness.
Writing is the ultimate psychiatrist,
the kindliest god of all the gods.
Writing stalks death.
It knows no quit,
and writing laughs at itself, at pain.
It is the last expectation, the last explanation.
That's what it is.