Cover Poem: “Style” by Charles Bukowski

I was the guest poet and MC at a recent Wellington On a Plate event up in the Kapiti Coast: It was a ticketed event, and sold out, so I did not record the whole show to share, since that wouldn’t be fair. But I did capture the opening poem, a cover — and thought it might be fun to share it here, as a “cover poem”. I might offer some more up over time. Here’s the full text of it: ***Style is the answer to everything.A fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous thing.To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing without it.To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art.Bullfighting can be an art.Boxing can be an art.Loving can be an art.Opening a can of sardines can be an art.Not many have style.Not many can keep style.I have seen dogs with more style than men,although not many dogs have style.Cats have it with abundance.When Hemingway put his brains to the wall with a shotgun,that was style.Or sometimes people give you style.Joan of Arc had style.John the Baptist.Jesus.Socrates.Caesar.García Lorca.I have met men in jail with style.I have met more men in jail with style than men out of jail.Style is the difference, a way of doing, a way of being done.Six herons standing quietly in a pool of water,or you, naked, walking out of the bathroom without seeing me.*** And if you’d like to hear old Buk read it, here you go: I also shared the playlist of music I made for the event. So if you missed that earlier, then see here: Hopefully some good ‘style’ in those tunes… Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe