Style from Tangram by Gak Sato

style

style is the answer to everything
a fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous thing
to do a dull thing with style is preferable
to doing a dangerous thing without style
to do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art

bullfighting can be an art
boxing can be an art
loving can bean art
opening a can of sardines can be an art

not many have style
not many can keep style
I have seen dogs with more style than men
although not many dogs have style
cats have it in abundance

when Hemingway put his brains to the wall with a shotgun
that was style
or sometimes people give you style
Joan of Arc had style
John de Baptist, Jesus, Socrates, Caesar, Garcia Lorca

I have met men in jail with style
I have met more man with style is jail than men out of jail

style is a difference
a way of doing
a way of being done

six herons standing quietly in a pool of water
for you, walking naked out of the bathroom
without seeing me

© 1972 by Charles Bukowski
Reprinted from the poem 'Mockingbird Wish Me Luck' with permission of Black Sparrow Press

• Milan