Short Order
Short Order - meaning Summary
Mutual Small Humiliations
Bukowski presents a brief comic exchange where a woman reports her young girlfriend despised the narrator’s poetry. The narrator responds with self-deprecating parity: she has bad legs, he has bad poetry. The poem frames criticism as reciprocal and deflating rather than devastating, ending with the terse phrase "Scramble two," which registers as a resigned, almost playful acceptance of mutual shortcomings and social bruises.
Read Complete Analyses"I took my girlfriend to your last poetry reading," she said. "Yes, yes?" I asked. "She's young and pretty," she said. "And?" I asked. "She hated your guts." Then she stretched out on the couch and pulled off her boots. "I don't have very good legs," she said. "All right," I thought, "I don't have very good poetry; she doesn't have very good legs." Scramble two.
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