Poem for My 43rd Birthday
from "All's Normal Here"; 1985
Poem for My 43rd Birthday - context Summary
For His 43rd Birthday
Written as a 43rd-birthday piece and published in the 1985 collection All's Normal Here, the poem frames aging and solitude in plain domestic terms. Bukowski imagines an unadorned room, modest comforts, and a quiet acceptance of being alone, while the city continues its daily labor outside. The poem registers resignation and small gratifications rather than dramatic crisis, contrasting private stillness with public bustle.
Read Complete AnalysesTo end up alone in a tomb of a room without cigarettes or wine— just a lightbulb and a potbelly, gray-haired, and glad to have the room. ...In the morning they're out there making money: judges, carpenters, plumbers, doctors, newsboys, policemen, barbers, car washers, dentists, florists, waitresses, cooks, cab drivers... and you turn over to your left side to get the sun on your back and out of your eyes.
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