The poet Charles Bukowski has become famous among Millennials for a poem he didn’t write and a quote he never uttered. It took me 4 years to discover the origin of the quote and, separately, the author of the poem that falsely bears Bukowski’s name. It’s been tattooed, scrawled, and spray painted worldwide. 

Countless people including Sean Penn, Mark Manson, and Lex Friedman believe the false narrative. And, sure, you have the freedom to believe what you want. But truth matters. And I have the freedom to pursue it. So, I did.

On August 9, I’ll be in Berlin, Germany as a guest speaker at the 30th Annual Charles Bukowski Festival. Other attendees include Bukowski’s only child, Marina Bukowski. 

In advance of the festival, we talked about the viral poem below:

My Dear,  
Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly, but it's much better to be killed by a lover.

\-Falsely yours  
Charles Bukowski

Marina says, not only is it not her dad’s writing… it’s not actually what he espoused.

P.S. For those of you who are frustrated I’m not yet revealing the origin of the quote and the origin of the poem, the answers are Leon and Akim. 

See you in Berlin

Bukowski on Bukowski