Volume Twenty Two Available Now
Words by Ben Giese | Photo by Jack Antal
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 reflecting on his journey as a writer, he says, “When everything works best, it’s not because you chose writing, but because writing chose you. It’s when you’re mad with it. When it’s stuffed in your ears, nostrils, under your fingernails. It’s when there’s no hope but that.” It’s when the thought of not doing that thing hurts more than the thought of potentially suffering through the process. When the thought of a life without it, or never having tried it at all, terrifies you. When you finally discover what it is you were meant to do, and it just feels right without trying. Try. We witnessed these virtues firsthand when getting to know motorcycle racer Jordan Graham. Graham is a truly authentic individual who lives his life fueled by speed and adrenaline, with values guided by past traditions. He radiates an old-school cool that then inspired us to spend some time in Palm Springs, soaking up the fantasy of a golden time that still influences style and culture to this day.
Cover photo by John Ryan Hebert
There’s something romantic about the old way of doing things, which is why we wanted to share the story of some old friends loading up a 1964 Chevy and disconnecting from the world for a few weeks in Mexico. The trip was a celebration of their time together. One last hurrah. A symbolic death of an era before moving on to the next phases of their lives. We also followed another group of friends in Australia who built some inappropriate street bikes for a bold off-road adventure through Tasmania. With some dots on a map and no real plans, what happened along the way would be left to chance. Getting lost. Breaking down. Taking the long way. Just let the adventure happen. Don’t try.
When that illusive thing finally reveals itself, you’ll just know it. You’ll have no choice but to let it consume you. Like photographer Jack Antal, who captures visual poetry in his stunning images. Or the beautiful people who founded Riders for Health and Two Wheels For Life, two organizations dedicated to providing medical access via motorcycle in hard-to-reach communities in rural Africa, saving thousands of lives in the process. They found their purpose, and they’ve shown us the importance of acting on it. When it comes to you, through you, out of you, without trying. Try.
