WORDS OF ADVICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
People often ask me if I have any words of advice for young people. Well, here are a few simple admonitions for young and old.
Never interfere in a boy and girl fight.
Beware of whores who say they don't want money. The hell they don't. What they mean is they want more money. Much more.
If you're doing business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing. His word isn't worth shit, not with the good Lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal.
Avoid half fuckups. You all know the type. Anything they have anything to do with, no matter how good it sounds, turns into a disaster.
Do not offer sympathy to the mentally ill. Tell them firmly, "I am not paid to listen to this drivel. You are a terminal fool."
Now some of you may encounter the devil's bargain if you get that far. Any old soul is worth saving at least to a priest, but not every soul is worth buying. So you can take the offer as a compliment.
They try the easy ones first, you know, like money, all the money there is. Yeah but who wants to be the richest guy in some cemetery? Money won't buy it. Not much left to spend it on, eh, Gramps? Getting too old to cut the mustard.
How's a young body grab you? Like 3 card monty; Like pea under the shell; Now you see it now you don't. Haven't you forgotten something, Gramps? In order to feel something, you have to be there. You have to be 18. You're not 18, you are 78. Old fool sold his soul for a strap-on.
Well they always try the easy ones first - how about an honorable bargain? "You always wanted to become a doctor well now's your chance. Why, you could have become a great healer and benefit humanity. What's wrong with that?" Just about everything. There are no honorable bargains involving exchange of qualitative merchandise like souls for quantitative merchandise like time and money. So piss off Satan and don't take me for dumber than I look. As an old junk pusher told me, "Watch whose money you pick up."
William Burroughs
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Time's Up

Be Kind
by Charles Bukowski
by Charles Bukowski
we are always asked
to understand the other person's
viewpoint
no matter how
out-dated
foolish or
obnoxious.
one is asked
to view
their total error
their life-waste
with
kindliness,
especially if they are
aged.
but age is the total of
our doing.
they have aged
badly
because they have
lived
out of focus,
they have refused to
see.
not their fault?
whose fault?
mine?
I am asked to hide
my viewpoint
from them
for fear of their
fear.
age is no crime
but the shame
of a deliberately
wasted
life
among so many
deliberately
wasted
lives
is.
to understand the other person's
viewpoint
no matter how
out-dated
foolish or
obnoxious.
one is asked
to view
their total error
their life-waste
with
kindliness,
especially if they are
aged.
but age is the total of
our doing.
they have aged
badly
because they have
lived
out of focus,
they have refused to
see.
not their fault?
whose fault?
mine?
I am asked to hide
my viewpoint
from them
for fear of their
fear.
age is no crime
but the shame
of a deliberately
wasted
life
among so many
deliberately
wasted
lives
is.
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