these things that we support most well
have nothing to do with up,
and we do with them
out of boredom or fear or money
or cracked intelligence;
our circle and our candle of light
being small,
so small we cannot bear it,
we heave out with Idea
and lose the Center:
all wax without the wick,
and we see names that once meant
wisdom,
like signs into ghost towns,
and only the graves are real.
There is a serious typo in Bukowski’s Poem these things. The word “up” in the second line should be “us.” beyond that it appears in “The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills” page 24. not in Love Is A Dog From Hell.”