Charles Bukowski on dying and how to write.

I've met a few Bukowski's in my time. They were fascinating characters.

Who is Charles Bukowski you ask?

Charles Bukowski was a German-born American poet, novelist, and short story writer.

His stories speak of a gritty underside of life. The common man making his way through a complicated world in an uncomplicated way. His characters are hedonistic, fatalistic, and with a brash honesty. They pursue the pleasures of drinking, smoking, good food and sex. These pursuits are the primary motivation for their lives. Conforming to social norms is just a temporary compromise on the path to the next pleasure. The attractiveness of the characters is in their capacity for living life to the fullest, with little regard for their own health and well-being. They extract everything they can in the moment, while letting the future sort itself out.

In this interview Bukowski talks about dying and how to write. I've seen many interviews of him in Europe where it seems he was most revered.

I've met some Bukowski-ish characters in my life. One was a close friend from my childhood, who I always remembered as the loudest talking kid I had ever known. I would run into him at different stages of my life and he would always have many wild tales of drunken debauchery, wilful criminality and a stoic denial of lifes tragedy. He was a masterful storyteller who oft repeated the phrase, 'Never let the truth get in the way of a good story'.

So it is with memories of my friend that I watch Bukowski express his life philosophy and writing.