The Poet Laureate of Skid Row

Section Ocean View,
plot number 875,
just off Avalon Drive
in The Green Hills Memorial Park
is where you'll find the final resting place
of one Henry Charles Bukowski Junior (1920-1994).
It's a short Sunday morning drive along the PCH 1.
Deeper into the Southland; through Redondo Beach
and up into the quiet affluent bluffs of The Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Buk has a decent view of the Pacific from up here
(and the less scenic US Navy Fuel depot away to the left).
The simple granite tombstone,
illustrated by a simple carving of a pugilist,
carries the simple epitaph; "Don't Try".
Buk, I can’t help noticing, has a woman buried on either side of him.
A woman to his left. And a woman to his right.
A woman either side of him down in the deep ground.
A woman either side for the long sleep of the sweet by-and-by.
A woman either side for the journey into bardo and beyond.
I dare say The Dirty Old Bastard would’ve liked that.


Send Hank Some Flowers