SUMMER 2021

Charles Bukowski was a prolific underground poet in mid-century America whose writing spoke to the beautiful sadness and struggle of ordinary life for ordinary people. His words were raw, offensive and real, and his final offering to the world was a concise message etched into his gravestone: DON’T TRY.

This message doesn’t mean don’t do anything. In fact it means quite the opposite. He’s really saying do something. Let it happen. Be yourself. Let it come to you. Don’t try. Because if you have to try to care about something, if you have to try to want something, perhaps you don’t actually care about it or want it.

When that illusive thing finally reveals itself, you’ll just know it. You’ll have no choice but to let it consume you. When it comes to you, through you, out of you, without trying. Try.