The Marginalian
The Marginalian

A Beautiful Animated Adaptation of Bukowski’s Poem “The Bluebird”

“The Bluebird” by Charles Bukowski (August 16, 1920–March 9, 1994), originally published in his 1992 anthology The Last Night of the Earth Poems (public library), is a quietly profound meditation on an all too familiar facet of the human condition — our compulsion to conceal and stifle our tenderest, most vulnerable selves beneath tough, controlled, meticulously constructed exteriors.

This mesmerizingly beautiful animated adaptation of the poem by Cambridge School of Art student Monika Umba is the perfect piece of visual whimsy to bring the poem’s magic to life.

THE BLUEBIRD
by Charles Bukowski

there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I’m not going
to let anybody see
you.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he’s
in there.

there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody’s asleep.
I say, I know that you’re there,
so don’t be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he’s singing a little
in there, I haven’t quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it’s nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don’t
weep, do
you?

Complement with Bukowski on the ideal conditions and myths of creativity and his magnificent letter of gratitude to the man who helped him quit his soul-sucking day job to become a full-time writer.


Published January 13, 2012

https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/01/13/bukowski-blue-bird-animated/

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