i never knew Bukowski. i hadn’t even heard of him for most of my life. i think i was 52 when i first read anything by him – despite work of mine appearing in print with his back in the early 80’s . i knew little about his real life but what came from the poetry (never read a novel by him) – i don’t remember his words but i still remember the rush of honest poetry i discovered there – how beauty cannot be subdued by drink drugs abuse of any kind. how the humanity of the human spirit will not be denied – even if the only place it can manifest is in the fact of not killing the cat who pisses all over you while you’re sleeping one off in bed.
the following poem was published by Caliope Nerve in October 2009, http://calliopenerve.blogspot.ie/search/label/PD%20Lyons it was probably written in 06-07 :
Fuckin Bukowski
Idiot me picks now
6000 miles away at 52
To discover him
Still glad I didn’t stay in Waterbury
Find him sooner
Probably still be pukeing
Out in the after last call
Parking lot of now what am I gonna do
Or else back in jail
Or else still with one of the xes
Or else not even alive
~
Tonight just had a chicken and ham sandwich on rye
And its sometime after midnight
And I’ll probably still be up @ 6 maybe half 6
Do some yoga make coffee for the wife
Bring it to her in bed
Get some pancakes going for the kid
And be happy to do so
~
No not envious
Not regretful
Rather peaceful
Glad to be out of it
That’s the kind of poet I’m happy to live with
Now.
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By pdlyons
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Posted in irish american poetry, pdlyons photography, re: poets, ruff
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Tagged american, bukowski, cats, coffee, jail, living life, pancakes, photographs, poetry, puke, sandwich, waterbury
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pdlyons
So here’s something I have been meaning to do for some time now. not a big deal except for me to follow through sometimes takes a while. Any way I come from a book-aholic family. My parents both avid readers. My Mom and dad also collected and sold out of print books back in the days before personal computers. He would be sent lists from books shops dealers and at times universities and libraries – searching for particular items. He wold send a post card quote and maybe make a sale. We spent many a weekends going to estate sales, tag sales, second-hand shops etc. Finding things for resale and curious pieces i would sometimes argue with him over – like Henry miller first editions or Gertrude Stein, etc. (and whatever happened to that Jerusalem Bible illustrated by Dali?) Some of those books are still on my shelves some alas are not. Anyway Shelly and I have continued the reading and collecting but alas not the re-sale. Morgan too is an avid reader and hoarder of books. So every once in a while there is no choice but to part with somethings … So the thing I meant to say is that starting today I’m doing an off the book shelf blog post. Because so many things come through and because we haunt second-hand shops there are many books we acquire with inscriptions and I’m thinking i would like to document and save them and share them regardless of keeping the books or not.
The first is from the book; Endurance, an epic of polar adventure by F.A.Worsley Captain of HMS Endurance. published by WW Norton & Company, NY. 2000. The inscription is to Capt. Beckley and signed by Summer. I particularly find “Stay Safe Brave Soul…” rather touching. We would have picked this up in the states, probably in Litchfield Ct. area. Maybe the church on the green basement book shop? Maybe you know Captain Beckley? Maybe you know Summer? Maybe there is a story – Stay Safe Brave Soul.
pdlyons pix
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By pdlyons
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Posted in off the book shelf, Uncategorized
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Tagged Anyway Shelly, Captain Beckley, first editions, gertrude stein, henry miller, HMS Endurance, Jerusalem Bible illustrated by Dali, litchfield connecticut, polar adventure, Stay Safe Brave Soul
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The Orphan As Adult
my eyes were not green for you
I did not rebel or lead
never even learned to read.
children dropped from me
in a pain no one cared about.
my years marked by long days and short lives.
as if expecting greeting, you return.
as if your photographs meant something
other than a young girl momentarily annoyed
her world same now as it was then
a place where things just are the way they are.
my eyes were not green for you
only an accident of birth
same as your own.
For Afghanistan
The Orphan As Adult by PD Lyons, was written upon seeing the famous National Geographic cover photo of the grown up Afghan girl who was herself originally on the cover as a child during the Russian involvement in Afghanistan. Twenty years later and not much has changed.
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The final analysis
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true eneimes;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone may destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is all between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
– Mother Teresa of Calcutta
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Age by PD Lyons
Sunlight on the window sill
Little red birds search the hedge
While pale ghosts of what used to maybe be
Slip away
No longer needing to be fed by me
photo by Morgan Lyons
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A Country Dance by PD Lyons
I am a feeder of crows
My distant neighbour, a farmer
None too pleased
I feed them
He shoots them
A thing we do out here
Sometimes when I drive by his gates
I see the carcases
black birds hung on a barbed wire
Often, I wonder if he’d like my heart to hang
But then I’m sure like me he knows
Takes two to tango
.
mix media by Morgan Lyons
Crows by Morgan Lyons
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This was written in 2011. We were back for a few years in my hometown area of Waterbury Ct. We’d drive back and forth on Grandview Ave. Same time five days a week. Many times we’d see the same people walking same time everyday.
Grandview Avenue
We were walking
Hand in hand
Up the hill
In the rain
You had your bright red scarf
Wrapped around your head
Traffic swished
Lights on
Wipers squelching
We didn’t know what the day would bring
But I turned my face up to the sky
Trusting my own two feet and you to guide me
______________________________________________________
The annual erbacce-prize for poetry is open from January 1st to May 1st every year. It is entirely FREE to enter thus it attracts top quality poets world-wide… in 2019 we had close to eight thousand entries and all were judged ‘blind’. P D Lyons was the outright winner! Below is the book we produced for him… it is sheer quality poetry, the whole book encompasses a simplicity coupled with deep insight; a truly beautiful collection which reveals more each time it is re-opened… (perfect-bound: 112 pages)
http://erbacce-press.webeden.co.uk/p-d-lyons/4586525519
41.561367
-73.062092
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First Day of Spring
my daughter asks me
why did people invent war?
don’t they know it’s the devil not god that likes war?
do children have to fight?
do they kill children too?
boys, and girls?
how old are the children?
why don’t the soldiers just quit?
and then the sound of helicopter passing
she thinks it wondrous dashes off to look
and for all those for whom that sound is terror?
because of them
we must love the world
all the more.
photographer unknown
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