The Poet Laureate of Skid Row

Plot number eight seven five
of the Ocean View Section
just off Avalon Drive
in The Green Hills Memorial Park
is where you'll find the final resting place
of one Henry Charles Bukowski Junior (1920-1994).
It's a short Sunday morning drive along the PCH 1.
Deeper into the Southland; through Redondo Beach
and into the affluent bluffs of The Palos Verdes Peninsula.
The simple granite tombstone,
illustrated by a simple carving of a pugilist,
carries the equally simple epitaph; "Don't Try".
Buk, I can’t help noticing, has a woman buried on either side of him.
A woman down to his left. And a woman down to his right.
A woman either side of him in the deep ground.
A woman either side for the long sleep of the sweet by-and-by.
A woman on either side for the journey into bardo and beyond.
I dare say The Dirty Old Bastard would’ve liked that.


Send Hank Some Flowers