Submitted by Zach:
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I’m not going
to let anybody see
you.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pur whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he’s
in there.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody’s asleep.
I say, I know that you’re there,
so don’t be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he’s singing a little
in there, I haven’t quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it’s nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don’t
weep, do
you?
- Bluebird by Charles Bukowski
(81 votes, average: 4.51 out of 5)
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i love this tattoo, i adore bukowski and all of his work. i just recently got his signature tattooed on my shoulder. im glad to see others passionate about him.
Umm, the bird in the tattoo is a swallow, not a bluebird. So it means “Do you swallow?”
bluebirds have the yellow tips on their wings and breast. maybe it’s just not a detailed shot but i know enough about ornithology to know that’s a bluebird.
@curious – as wrong as your comment may be, it did make me laugh.
when i saw this-my heart skipped! i have the same tattoo-well i have a large bluebird with the line “there’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out”. the first time i read that poem-almost 5 years now-it really resonated within me-my interpetation anyway.i was in such a shitty place in my life-and that poem meant so much :) love this
I bought my first Bukowski book about five years ago and have been fairly obsessed since. This may be the absolute coolest tattoo I’ve seen in my life.
do you swallow?
that’s some funny shit.
I like the tattoo, though.
I read it as “do you swallow” too. Might have wanted to clarify a bit…hilarious anyway.
swallow do you?
@Selig- i am confused as well with the comments by people who read right to left.
Amazing tattoo. the Bukowski inspired ones always seem to work so well.
do you swallow.. hahaha. i like that. i hope thats the real meaning, and not some gay emo poem bullshit
Hmm well, it appears to be the traditional nautical design of a swallow (good luck to sailors because they return home every year) and differentiated from a bluebird by the yellow/white leading edge of the wing. It seems better interpreted “I swallow, Do you?” unless he has something complimentary on the other side. That said, the poem is beautiful and awesome.
I feel sorry for this guy…people will be asking him if he swallows for the rest of his life! lol
i guess the whole poem is about his homosexuality and how he has to hide it. and the tattoo serves to ask the question to another gay person.
Love the poem, love the Buk, have my own fair share of Buk art on my skin. the intent is great but love the fact this guy has to walk around answering the question “do you swallow”
such irony