Dedicated to the great Charles Bukowski, a hero of literature, truth, and the human condition.
Ah, Bukowski. What a sad, brilliant man. I love your work dearly but it is a shame that you saw only one side of the coin that is life.
You have been a great inspiration to me over the past two years since I first discovered your work. You have shown me that to be human is not glamorous, but that it is a struggle. That even the best of us can fall to lies, deceit, to the crushing will of society. But you have also shown me that I need not let the society in which I live define me. I am my own man.
Through reading your work I have grown to know you and to love you. You are a man of great brilliance, power, and spirit.
It is a shame, though, that you saw only the dark side of life. Reading your work has shown me contrast in life—that the dark is not the only thing out there. That there is light somewhere. And this has made all the difference in my life. For this I thank you, Bukowski.
You have taught me that there is some good in this world, but you have also taught me that there is evil, ugliness, shallowness, depravity all around us. It lurks, but it always finds a way into our lives. This is unavoidable. To quote you:
Masks dropped away and real people began to appear: cranks, imbeciles, the demented, the vengeful, sadists, killers. Modern society had created its own kind and they feasted on each other.
To be as great as you, I must not bend to the will of society. I must create my own path, read, write like there is no tomorrow—because reading and writing are the only things that can save us from each other.
Thank you, Buk, for everything. You are one of my heroes and greatest inspirations.