SpokenVerse | "Quiet Clean Girls in Gingham Dresses" by Charles Bukowski (read by Tom O'Bedlam) @SpokenVerse | Uploaded January 2012 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Celebrities are remote from the real world. They're insulated by layer of sycophants and groupies, they rarely meet anybody with ordinary habits. Small wonder their liaisons tend to be impermanent. The celebrities who contract the most lasting marriages seem to marry their make-up artist or set designer: somebody real, not a social climber or a diva.
The girl in the gingham dress at the start is Ava Gardner:
blog.caseybrowndesigns.com/2011/01/ava-gardner-style
The pin up at the end was inspired by a painting of Gil Elvgren:
http://lookbook.nu/look/1712009-Pin-up-2-inspired-by-Gil-Elvgren-s-painting
all I've ever known are whores, ex-prostitutes,
madwomen. I see men with quiet,
gentle women. I see them in the supermarkets,
I see them walking down the streets together,
I see them in their apartments: people at
peace, living together. I know that their
peace is only partial, but there is
peace, often hours and days of peace.
all I've ever known are pill freaks, alcoholics,
whores, ex-prostitutes, madwomen.
when one leaves
another arrives
worse than her predecessor.
I see so many men with quiet clean girls in
gingham dresses
girls with faces that are not wolverine or
predatory.
"don't ever bring a whore around," I tell my
friends, "I'll fall in love with her."
"you couldn't stand a good woman, Bukowski."
I need a good woman. I need a good woman
more than I need this typewriter, more than
I need my automobile, more than I need
Mozart; I need a good woman so badly that I
can taste her in the air, I can feel her
at my fingertips, I can see sidewalks built
for her feet to walk upon,
I can see pillows for her head,
I can feel my waiting laughter,
I can see her petting a cat,
I can see her sleeping,
I can see her slippers on the floor.
I know she exists
but where is she
Ipon this earth
as the whores
keep finding me?
Celebrities are remote from the real world. They're insulated by layer of sycophants and groupies, they rarely meet anybody with ordinary habits. Small wonder their liaisons tend to be impermanent. The celebrities who contract the most lasting marriages seem to marry their make-up artist or set designer: somebody real, not a social climber or a diva.
The girl in the gingham dress at the start is Ava Gardner:
blog.caseybrowndesigns.com/2011/01/ava-gardner-style
The pin up at the end was inspired by a painting of Gil Elvgren:
http://lookbook.nu/look/1712009-Pin-up-2-inspired-by-Gil-Elvgren-s-painting
all I've ever known are whores, ex-prostitutes,
madwomen. I see men with quiet,
gentle women. I see them in the supermarkets,
I see them walking down the streets together,
I see them in their apartments: people at
peace, living together. I know that their
peace is only partial, but there is
peace, often hours and days of peace.
all I've ever known are pill freaks, alcoholics,
whores, ex-prostitutes, madwomen.
when one leaves
another arrives
worse than her predecessor.
I see so many men with quiet clean girls in
gingham dresses
girls with faces that are not wolverine or
predatory.
"don't ever bring a whore around," I tell my
friends, "I'll fall in love with her."
"you couldn't stand a good woman, Bukowski."
I need a good woman. I need a good woman
more than I need this typewriter, more than
I need my automobile, more than I need
Mozart; I need a good woman so badly that I
can taste her in the air, I can feel her
at my fingertips, I can see sidewalks built
for her feet to walk upon,
I can see pillows for her head,
I can feel my waiting laughter,
I can see her petting a cat,
I can see her sleeping,
I can see her slippers on the floor.
I know she exists
but where is she
Ipon this earth
as the whores
keep finding me?
