Some books are painful

their pages weigh a 1000 pounds

and they are impossible to lift

unable to be opened

and some books are never in stock

because readers look forward to them

they check them out from the library

when nobody is watching

steal them from bookstores

buy them

re-buy them

read each page slowly

wishing

there was more.

There are good writers

but if nobody wants to read them, forget about it.

There are good friends

that you find

in the strangest places

at the most inopportune times

They tell you

everything there is to know

in a new way.

The best things in life

are that way

an unexpected career

an unexpected gift

an unexpected girlfriend

an unexpected twist of fate

There is a sense of humor out there

that laughs at our struggle

and rewards the gambler.

A good book is the one

you could be reading

during your last days—

even more blessed

you would be

to write something

worthy of being read

before you die in your bed.

Wanting to do that

when there is nothing left

must be done from pure motives

or madness.

Those are the kind of writers I like to read

Even if it’s crazy,

it’s something that’s never been said.

Don’t tell me about idle gossip

or the 1000 conversations I’ve heard in the hallways

and forgotten.

Tell me something

that no longer makes me feel alone

that gives voice to my pain

and solutions hidden

in the subtext—an unusual way to deal with a dangerous thing

and I will be a loyal reader for life.

The most valuable gold

belongs to fools

Nobody else, sees its value

It’s purely subjective, like faith

but it gives you

that feeling of hope

when there should be none.

Open a book like that

and the writer has done

what the culture has failed to do.

It isn’t the stories that matter

but the feeling, afterward…

the opposite of a modern-day Hollywood movie

I think the soul of the creator

speaks to how we feel

when we finish.

If we feel empty, like we wasted our time

like we ate candy

we have been inside the soul

of somebody

who rots.

If we feel

a fresh way

to slay our dragons, in the dungeons of our sleep

it was worthwhile to read

and to watch.

A writer must deal with uncertainty, criticism, and rejection—

even success, can kill him,

but if he is oriented in the right way

by the therapists he found along the way

in some books

nothing can stop him.

The truth is this…

the voices that you listen to

will be responsible

for the results you get.

Bukowski, you are my beloved therapist.