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run with the hunted

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This is Ed Casey‘s Bukowski tattoo:

I’ve been a Bukowski fan ever since my pop got me started on his writing (at what was probably too early an age for such booze filled tales of debauchery). I used to have this poem printed out and stuck to my fridge to remind me that, all things considered, things are pretty ok. I thought and thought and thought about getting my first (and so far only) tattoo for years and when the time came there was really only one option.

photo

there’s no other way:
8 or ten poems a
night.
in the sink
behind me are dishes
that haven’t been
washed in 2
weeks.
the sheets need
changing
and the bed is
unmade.
half the lights are
burned-out here.
it gets darker
and darker
(I have replacement
bulbs but can’t get them
out of their cardboard
wrapper.) Despite my
dirty shorts in the
bathtub
and the rest of my dirty
laundry on the
bedroom floor,
they haven’t
come for me yet
with their badges and their rules and their
numb ears. oh, them
and their caprice!
like the fox
I run with the hunted and
if I’m not the happiest
man on earth I’m surely the
luckiest man
alive.

– “my doom smiles at me” by Charles Bukowski, from the book The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Hey that's my arm!

    Thanks for putting me on the site (and thanks for the kind words steph).

    I'll send pictures of my next tattoo as soon as I get it done (well, as soon as I get it done and it's not gross anymore)!

    Reply

  3. lol @ 'hey that's my arm!' :)

    Great tattoo. love the quote you chose and your story behind it (plus great poem too! i don't know much – or any? – of Bukowski's stuff).

    Reply

  6. simple tattoo, read all of Bukowski and love all of Bukowski, have some Buk ink but looking for some more, will not steal any ideas just looking for inspiration! Great tat dude

    Reply

  12. Thanks for all the kinds words about my little arm scribble folks.

    It's gratifying to know that my tattoo was so awesome that nothing will ever top it, thus no new posts.

    That's what happened right? ;)

    Also, if anyone can ID exactly what font that is on my wing I'd appreciate it. I get that question occasionally and all I know is that it was the best looking one that popped up when I Googled "classic typewriter font".

    Reply

  22. I love this. Bukowski is my favourite writer of all time.

    There's a plethora of fonts that your tatt could be in. The ones that I found MOST similar were Courier New, Bookman Old Style, Century Schoolbook, Goundy Old Style. I would say Courier New because it's my favourite text font.

    I want to get "don't try" on my upper left arm.

    Reply

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