Monday, July 06, 2009

Noir


They met at the Null & Void, a nihilist café frequented by bohemian pseudo-intellectuals whose imaginations allowed them to believe that they lived by some higher creed.
They fell into one another’s eyes; irises dilated and focussed fateful forward.
Their hands translated cigarette poses into reasons; pale skin into purpose.
And, at barricades of bougainvillea explosions, fellow assassins sharpened poisoned arrow pencils in preparation for that future.


11 comments:

James Higham said...

Bougainvillea? Too colourful, surely.

the walking man said...

Smokey cafes and delusional needs met in vapid posturing finding worth in self promotion of an idea whose time should have passed quicker than it did.

Bukowski lived those days well.

Anonymous said...

I think I was born Bohemian. Pop never did like that....

free said...

nice :) i like noir style

Barlinnie said...

Noir.. classics.. all of them.

Garth said...

James: too colourful??

Walking Man: Bukowski was no pseudo-intellectual tho'

Subby: was Pop a military man?

Free: glad you enjoyed

Jimmy: you're right

Anonymous said...

Pisces, yes. Air force...24 years.

the walking man said...

Which is why he lived well in those days. I read his philosophy of the Beat's. He would sit and let them talk all they wanted and he would listen as long as they were buying the booze, then he kicked 'em into the canal and went on in his own way.

Garth said...

Subby: hence the disdain for scrufulous bohemians ;]

Walking Man: Not sure where I stand on Bukowski... love some of his works and his laser incisions into society's underbelly, but his nihilist disdain for everything (including himself) is not my thang :)
As for the beats: I guess most of them are 'of their time' - the only one that strikes me as still relevant is Burroughs, possibly because he always knew what it was he was dissecting.

the walking man said...

PI I think the best of Bukowski really came out near the end of his life...Look up his piece "confession"
to me it is one of the best love poems I have ever read.

I like Bukowski because he didn't try to be what he was not, he knew himself well enough and he went with it. Richard Braugtigan was another of the same stripe. he was rejected by Ferlinghetti as to immature in his writing to be considered by that glorified City Lights Press.

In other words rejected by the Beat society so what does he do...quits for a couple of years and fathers a whole different generation of poetry. Sadly though he was one of those who mixed a fifth of liquor and a .44 bullet and really never saw his own success.

There are some recordings done by Bukowski reading to an audience...funny funny stuff. It was no rant or "I am the poet" but more like the true interaction one who is in front of an audience could only hope for.

But like we discussed before it is not knowledge of era or style but rather simply the words put on the paper that make the poetry and again you are quite admirable in that making.

Garth said...

walking man: I know where you're coming from - I have long enjoyed Braugtigan's works as well. But, YES, so often the creatives band together to become the establishment and lose contact with the ground.

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