It was a friend who first introduced me to the works of Charles Bukowski.

I’d heard of him before, but the words that came to mind weren’t necessarily the greatest: a lifelong alcoholic, a misogynist—someone who hated everyone and everything.

Regardless, one Christmas, I was offered a collection of his poems. I got down to reading them, and boy…I connected to his writing in a way I have never connected to anything else before.

His writing is raw, honest, and he does not beat around the bush. He isn’t afraid to say what most people would be afraid to say. He is blunt. Real. Direct.

I love his no bullsh*t approach.

He takes the crappiest things that happen in life and laughs at them. It’s funny, and yet at the same time, it’s heartbreaking. He reminds us that we’re all human, and we all suffer. We all feel like crap at times, and his writing gives people like me hope.

He reminds us that we’re not alone.

I’m sharing one of my favorite quotes of his, one that I turn to when I need that little source of motivation, whether as an inspiration for work, hard situations, relationships, or just simply for life.

I hope it can be of benefit to you too:

“I knew that I was dying.
Something in me said,
Go ahead, die, sleep, become as them, accept.
Then something else in me said, no,
save the tiniest bit.
It needn’t be much, just a spark.

A spark can set a whole forest on fire.
Just a spark.
Save it.” 

~ Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

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