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The poem “the meek have inherited” comes from the Charles Bukowski poetry book “Love is a Dog From Hell.” “Love is a Dog From Hell” was published in 1977 by Black Sparrow Press.

the meek have inherited, by Charles Bukowski

if I suffer at this
typewriter
think how I’d feel
among the lettuce-
pickers of Salinas?

 

I think of the men
I’ve known in
factories
with no way to
get out –
choking while living
choking while laughing
at Bob Hope or Lucille
Ball while
2 or 3 children beat
tennis balls against
the walls.

 

some suicides are never
recorded.

The Charles Bukowski poem “the meek have inherited” appears in the collection “Love is a Dog From Hell.” Click the image for more information.

The beginning of this poem shows off something Bukowski doesn’t get enough credit for: his humor. In fact, he is one of the funniest writers of his generation, but that often gets overlooked because he is considered a depressing, dark character.

And while that characterization didn’t exactly come out of nowhere, he managed to avoid the trap he felt one of his favorite writers, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, fell into: Losing his sense of humor. Compare his fantastic magnum opus “Journey to the End of the Night” to anything else the man ever wrote and you’ll take Bukowski’s meaning.

Speaking of humor, Bukowski makes clear in “the meek have inherited” that he wasn’t a fan of the comedic stylings of the day, in the form of a Bob Hope or Lucille Ball. The conclusion, “Some suicides are never recorded,” contrasting the deadening, in his eyes, lives of those who are supposedly “making it,” according to what the mid-20th century American Dream would have one believe, with the lettuce-pickers, who are a nod to Bukowski’s labor days, but also act as a representative, alongside the factory workers, of those who can’t escape those years. Meanwhile, here he is a successful writer, having made it out, but still complaining about his own lot in life, now chained to a typewriter instead of a punch press.

In other words, no matter what dream you achieve there will always be a downside.

More Poems From “Love is a Dog From Hell”

• “The Crunch” by Charles Bukowski
• “what they want” by Charles Bukowski

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