deserves them all

somewhere in whatever neighborhood
there’s
some guy
at 10:30 in the morning
sunday morning
monday morning
any morning.

washing and polishing his
car
with the radio on
LOUD
so that the entire neighborhood
is compelled
to listen to the music
that he is
listening to
but it’s all right
because we surely don’t
want him to be bored out
there;
it’s going to take him
hours.

they’d arrest a drunk or a
panhandler
as a public nuisance
but this boy is a
respectable citizen
and it’s the respectable
citizens
that our culture is built
upon
and whom
the music is written
for.

if I murdered him
no court in America would
forgive
my courage.

meanwhile
he circles his car
with the
hose plus
a bucket of
suds.

he’s safe
he’s fearless
look at him there
almost as handsome as that twittering
bluejay
and at least 4 women are
in love with
him and he
deserves them all
and I hope he
gets them all.

it’s the only way we can
teach that
son-of-a-bitch what
suffering is.
[Charles Bukowski, ‘I hear all the latest tunes,’ in What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire]