"crucifixion"

now we must select with extreme caution our lovers,
water, foodstuffs and even our invisible
air.

it is a very careful time.

our politicians consider ways to dismantle
the worldwide stockpile of bombs
all too late, of course, since it only takes one fool to
push one button
somewhere.

we draw close together, frightened, searching for a return
to a safe
womb.

but we must have been wrong for too long. the asylums
overflow and spill their
detritus into our streets
and where our leaders once spoke wisely
they now speak gibberish --
they stop, then continue, look about, addled,
substituting inane slogans for real
speech.

this is the price we now pay; we can't go
back, we can't go forward and we hang helpless, nailed to a
world
of our own
making.

published posthumously and found in charles bukowski, the flash of lightning behind the mountain: new poems (new york: ecco, 2005): 72. i hope i'm not playing too fast and loose w/ copyright law, but i really like this guy and was moved by this poem, so i wanted you to read it.