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As I Lay Dying

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As I Lay Dying

By: Charles Bukowski

Poetic Outlaws
Mar 24, 2023
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As I Lay Dying

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The time comes to go deeper
into self and the time comes
when it is more innocent
or easier to die
like bombers over
Santa Monica,
and I remember
laying there in the sand,
myself 20 years old, 
reading Faulkner
because the name sounded good
and being vaguely excited
by something
that was not myself
and closing the book
and getting
sick of the sea 
and the sky 
blue blue blue
spots of white,
all dizzy in the trap,
wanting out
but knowing 
I was nailed
like sand-fleas
I slapped at, 
and Mr. Faulkner
laying on his side
immortal and burning
with my toes
and everything tilting
and not quite
true. 
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As I Lay Dying

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10 Comments
Geoffrey Cadman
Mar 24

To the point, not a wasted word, perfect.

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Joseph Boot
Mar 24

William Faulkners grave is just through a patch of woods about 1/4 mile from my home in Oxford, Mississippi. His old house Rowan Oak is across the square. So yeah this has meaning to me personally.

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