Charles Bukowski YouTube Poetry Video: "There's A Bluebird In My Heart"

My MySpace friend Sweet Thursday was kind enough to re-post this YouTube video of Charles Bukowski reciting his poem, "There's A Bluebird In My Heart" from Swedish TV(the sub--titles are in Swedish), in a bulletin she sent out this morning, after getting this from another MySpace friend of hers in another bulletin.

I think that this is a lovely work, and shows Bukowski at his best, cynical, tough and tender.

Enjoy and be seeing you.

----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: Sweet Thursday
Date: Sep 2, 2007 8:42 PM


----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: W.W.
Date: Sep 2, 2007 6:42 PM

There's a Blue Bird in my Heart

by Charles Bukowski

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.


there's a bluebird in my heart that

wants to get out

but I'm too tough for him,

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?

there's a bluebird in my heart that

wants to get out

but I'm too clever, I only let him out

at night sometimes

when everybody's asleep.

I say, I know that you're there,

so don't be

sad.

then I put him back,

but he's singing a little

in there, I haven't quite let him

die

and we sleep together like

that

with our

secret pact

and it's nice enough to

make a man

weep, but I don't

weep, do

you?