• Manifesto
  • About
  • About Jo
  • Contact

Inspire Portal

Wisdom, Wellbeing and Writing for Conscious Creatives

  • Home
  • The Island
    • Inspire
      • Authors
      • Artists
      • Thinkers
      • Poets
      • Dreamers
      • Musicians
      • Image Makers
      • Film Makers
      • Vagabonds
  • The Boat
    • Create
    • Write
      • Writing
      • Poetry
      • Storytelling
    • Read
      • Poetry
      • Literary
      • Master Storytellers
  • The Beach
    • Empower
    • Acupressure
  • The Temple
    • Awaken
    • Evolve
    • Meditate
  • The Juice Bar
    • Nourish
    • Optimise
  • The Forest
    • Act
    • Protect
    • Explore

Poetry | So You Want to Be a Writer ~ Charles Bukowski

29 July 1 Comment

Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
Buffer
Pocket
Email

So You Want To Be A Writer ~ Charles Bukowski

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.

don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

~ Charles Bukowski, Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way: New Poems (public library)

  • About
  • Latest Posts
Jo Malby
Follow
Jo Malby
A bibliophile writer on a quest to find ancient solutions for each creative conundrum, and share those solutions with you to inspire, edify and delight.

I distil global wisdom, ancient and new, to empower writers, artists and creative entrepreneurs with tools to unleash their creativity by rebalancing their being.
Jo Malby
Follow
Latest posts by Jo Malby (see all)
  • A. L. Kennedy’s 10 Rules for Writing Fiction - 23 October
  • Acupressure to Ease Creative Doubt - 7 August
  • Julia Cameron on Why We Should Write - 7 May
Share
Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
Buffer
Pocket
Email

Filed Under: Filed Under: Authors, Literary, Poetry, Poets, Read, The Boat 1 Comment

About Jo Malby

Trackbacks

  1. God Wants More Than to Answer Your Prayer says:
    9 February at 10:00 pm

    […] [photo courtesy: inspireportal.com] […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Finding inspiration, offering, and encouraging it through creative, and healing practices, ancient wisdom, and modern techniques, to fuel your writing, art, and life.

Subscribe

Categories

Enter the Om

Creative Om Logo of an ink pen inside a lotus

Archives

The Alliance of Independent Authors

I’m a member of NFWU!

Copyright © 2025 Inspire Portal. Web Design by Viva la Violette.

Copyright © 2025 · Inspire Portal on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in