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Charles Bukowski - The Genius Of The Crowd

there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average
human being to supply any given army on any given day

and the best at murder are those who preach against it
and the best at hate are those who preach love
and the best at war finally are those who preach peace

those who preach god, need god
those who preach peace do not have peace
those who preach peace do not have love

beware the preachers
beware the knowers
beware those who are always reading books
beware those who either detest poverty
or are proud of it
beware those quick to praise
for they need praise in return
beware those who are quick to censor
they are afraid of what they do not know
beware those who seek constant crowds for
they are nothing alone
beware the average man the average woman
beware their love, their love is average
seeks average

but there is genius in their hatred
there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding solitude
they will attempt to destroy anything
that differs from their own
not being able to create art
they will not understand art
they will consider their failure as creators
only as a failure of the world
not being able to love fully
they will believe your love incomplete
and then they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect

like a shining diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock

their finest art

Added: on January 5th, 2008 at 12:55 PM | Viewed: 8386 times | Comments and analysis of The Genius Of The Crowd by Charles Bukowski Comments (13)


The Genius Of The Crowd - Comments and Information

Poet: Charles Bukowski
Poem: The Genius Of The Crowd

Comment 13 of 13, added on May 14th, 2008 at 9:22 AM.

This is not a message of love, as some have interpreted, but one of disgust. He's talking about the horror of mob metality and warning us against it. Those who preach peae and love yet have none of it themselves are those who protest something and hypcritically support it simultaneously. An example would be 'peace protesters' using violent means to make an example. They are so angry at what they stand for,they gather in crowds and together their hate disturbs them and makes them best at war. The line about bewaring those who read books and detest/are proud of poverty means that the narrow-minded mass of semi-educated people merely demonstrate their lack of involvement with the real world- the tough, no-nonsense world of Bukowski. The goes on to condemn that middle class crowd of the average and describes the tyranny of the masses, the hatred of those who group together "not wanting solitutde not understanding solitude" and blaming the world for their failures when truly, they are the incomplete ones. The majority is tempting like a shining diamond, and large as a mountain, and as dangerous as the knife, tiger, and hemlock he concludes the poem with. It is their hatred that is their "finest art".

Alison from Singapore
Comment 12 of 13, added on March 19th, 2008 at 2:36 AM.

those who detest poverty will never do anything to fix the problem and those proud of it are just, well, twisted.

bukowski is poetry. the best kind of poetry.

mari from United States
Comment 11 of 13, added on January 5th, 2008 at 12:55 PM.

bukowksi is not condemning people in this poem, he is telling people to beware, or question their surroundings. by saying beware of people who detest poverty he is saying question them-- why do they detest poverty? i think bukowski is saying that we must QUESTION things, not take them for their surface value. most people are filled with hate because they don't understand other people or where they are coming from. this is why we must beware of others so we don't end up surrounded by a bunch of average people who hate their lives doing a bunch of average things.

brittany McKallagat from United States

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