Excerpt from Chapter 22 of the memoir Charles Bukowski’s Scarlet by Pamela Cupcakes Wood
Bukowski sighed a lot. To me a sigh means something — I’m sad, I’m tired, I’m depressed, I’m weary. But Bukowski sighed on general principles. It was his reponse to being alive. Sigh…
So I’d try to cheer him up.
“…Let’s go out and do something.”
Sigh.
“Let’s go for a walk.”
Sigh.
“Let’s go out to eat.”
Sigh.
“Let’s go for a drive.”
Sigh.
“Let’s drink some champagne.”
Sigh.
“Let’s go to the track.”
“All right. Let’s go.”
Charles Bukowski’s Scarlet, Pamela Wood’s fun, fascinating memoir about her years with Charles Bukowski is available here.
Painting: Racehorses in a Landscape (1894) by Edgar Degas