The Finger
There is the suggestion that poetry is underrepresented on this blog. Hence I give you:
The Finger
by Charles Bukowski
the drivers of automobiles
have very little recourse or
originality.
when upset with
another
driver
they often give him the
FINGER.
I have seen two adult
men
florid of face
driving along
giving each other the
FINGER.
well, we all know what
this means, it’s no
secret.
still, this gesture is
so overused it has
lost most of its
impact.
some of the men who give
the FINGER are captains of
industry, city councilmen,
insurance adjusters,
accountants and/or the just plain
unemployed.
no matter.
it is their favorite
response.
people will never admit
that they drive
badly.
the FINGER is their
reply.
I see grown men
FINGERING each other
throughout the day.
it gives me pause.
when I consider
the state of our cities,
the state of our states,
the state of our country,
I begin to
understand.
the FINGER is a mind-
set.
we are the FINGERERS.
we give it
to each other.
we give it coming and
going.
we don’t know how
else to respond.
what a hell of a way
to not
live.
“The Finger” by Charles Bukowski, from Bone Palace Ballet. © Black
Sparrow Press, 2002
(thanks Dan)
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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 2:02 pm and is filed under Etc.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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July 15th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
A friend of the family who was an older woman would, when particularly angered by a bad driver, show the offender her pinky finger. The truth was she was too genteel to flip people off, but she always maintained that the gesture meant “When you don’t care enough to send the very best.”
July 15th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Every time you point that finger, three more point right back at you.
Are we really saying Finger You! or are we saying Finger ME!, and MY life, because I am so frustrated by the conditions I have allowed to persist around me? We have met the enemy, and he is us.
Time to make a stand. Time to dream beautifully. Time to awaken and envision our dreams as a reality. Time to believe the possibility of our dreams coming true. And time to get to work to make that happen.
It’s go time!
July 16th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
You’d think the Audubon Society would be flush with members, given the number of folks who relish in flipping the bird.
July 20th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Concordantly, “a silver-haired old lady…” has been remembered in lyric and song. I believe this link was posted somewhere/sometime previously on this blog. Makes me wonder, “How would Jesus drive?” Probable use public transit. Peace, fellow travelers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JaZNkjPiHM