The Trash Can
The Trash Can - meaning Summary
Self-rejection as Control
The poem depicts a writer casually deleting two unwanted poems from a computer trash can and reflecting on deliberate self-rejection. Bukowski frames disposal as a private, decisive act that spares the writer from editorial judgment, mixing bleak humor and resignation. The spare colloquial voice, domestic details and repeated refusals create a mood of ironic control: throwing work away becomes both punishment and protection against failure or exposure.
Read Complete Analysesthis is great, I just wrote two poems I didn't like. there is a trash can on this computer. I just moved the poems over and dropped them into the trash can. they're gone forever, no paper, no sound, no fury, no placenta and then just a clean screen awaits you. it's always better to reject yourself before the editors do. especially on a rainy night like this with bad music on the radio. and now-- I know what you're thinking: maybe he should have trashed this misbegotten one also. ha, ha, ha, ha.
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