The Only Thing Separating Bukowski & Rilke is Catlin
On my bookshelf
The only thing separating
Bukowski & Rilke
Is Catlin
Like some referee
In a boxing ring
Or a bouncer in a
Crowded bar
Y’ see Rilke & Bukowski
Never really got along
Celan once tried to
Take them both out one day
For ice cream but
They just looked at
Each other glaring from across
The Friendly’s table
With disgust
Started insulting
Each other Rilke calling
Bukowski a disgusting swine
Bukowski calling Rilke a
Pompous Nancy Boy
Things just weren’t
Working out & looked
Pretty bleak
Bukowski was
Drunk all the time
And Rilke was always
Spending hours in
The bathroom
Working on his
Mustache
But then ?
Catlin’s new book
Came out
Exterminating Angels
And after reading it
Carefully placed it
Between Love’s A Dog From
Hell & The Sonnets of Orpheus
And now?
I haven’t heard anything
From either of them
In quite awhile
But you never know
Last year Pessoa
Slashed Berryman’s
Tires and James Joyce
Called the police
Horror Sleaze Trash 