we like to shower afterwards
(I like the water hotter than she)
and her face is always soft and peaceful
and she’ll watch me first
spread the soap over my balls
lift the balls
squeeze them,
then wash the cock:
“hey, this thing is still hard!”
then get all the hair down there,-
the belly, the back, the neck, the legs,
I grin grin grin,
and then I wash her. . .
first the cunt, I
stand behind her, my cock in the cheeks of her ass
I gently soap up the cunt hairs,
wash there with a soothing motion,
I linger perhaps longer than necessary,
then I get the backs of the legs, the ass,
the back, the neck, I turn her, kiss her,
soap up the breasts, get them and the belly, the neck,
the fronts of the legs, the ankles, the feet,
and then the cunt, once more, for luck. . .
another kiss, and she gets out first,
toweling, sometimes singing while I stay in
turn the water on hotter
feeling the good times of love’s miracle
I then get out. . .
it is usually mid-afternoon and quiet,
and getting dressed we talk about what else
there might be to do,
but being together solves most of it
for as long as those things stay solved
in the history of women and
man, it’s different for each-
for me, it’s splendid enough to remember
past the memories of pain and defeat and unhappiness:
when you take it away
do it slowly and easily
make it as if I were dying in my sleep instead of in
my life, amen.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Charles Bukowski's poem The Shower

2 Comments

  1. alvaro says:

    he reads a shorter version there , and he breaks down to tears when he says “Linda…” and then, after that he says ” I´m getting soft” or old or sometinhg like that…
    beautifull to me…

  2. az says:

    Not his greatest poem. Until the last few lines

    In the Born Into This documentary he reads this one out and adds “Linda” to it

    Linda, you brought it to me
    When you take it away
    Do it slowly and easily
    Make it as if I were dying in my sleep
    Instead of in my life
    Amen

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