Giving advice

Friendly advice to a lot of young men

Charles Bukowsky

Go to Tibet.

Ride a camel.

Read the Bible.

Dye your shoes blue.

Grow a beard.

Circle the world in a paper canoe.

Subscribe to "The Saturday Evening Post."

Chew on the left side of your mouth only.

Marry a woman with one leg and shave with a straight razor.

And carve your name in her arm.

Brush your teeth with gasoline.

Sleep all day and climb trees at night.

Be a monk and drink buckshot and beer.

Hold your head under water and play the violin.

Do a belly dance before pink candles.

Kill your dog.

Run for Mayor.

Live in a barrel.

Break your head with a hatchet.

Plant tulips in the rain.

But don't write poetry.