“Now” by Charles Bukowski

I had boils the size of tomatoes

all over me

they stuck a drill into me

down at the county hospital

and

just as the sun went down

every day

there was a man in a nearby ward

he'd start hollering for his friend Joe.

Joe! He'd hollar, OH JOE! JOE! J O E !!

COME GET ME, JOE!

Joe never came by.

I've never heard such mournful

sounds.

Joe was probably working off

a piece of ass or

attempting to solve a crossword puzzle.

I've always said

If you want to find out who your friends are

go to a madhouse or

jail.

And if you want to find out where love is not

be a perpetual

loser.

I was very lucky with my boils

being drilled and tortured

against the backdrop of the Sierra Madre Mountains

while that sun went down;

when that sun went down I knew what I would do

when I finally got that drill in my hands

like I have it

now.