General Question

kenmc's avatar

Can you help me remember the name of this poem?

Asked by kenmc (11773points) June 7th, 2009

It was by Charles Bukowski.

It was about an elderly couple.

The man shoots his wife.

It ends with the line, “They looked like another upwardly mobile couple”.

The line given may not be exactly correct.

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5 Answers

PandoraBoxx's avatar

Here’s all of his poems online; have at it.

kenmc's avatar

@PandoraBoxx
I’ve been looking at a similar page on www.poemhunter.com but the title eludes me…

Thanks, though. I’m not familiar with this site quite yet…

MacBean's avatar

hell is a lonely place

.
he was 65, his wife was 66, had
Alzheimer’s disease.

he had cancer of the
mouth.
there were
operations, radiation
treatments
which decayed the bones in his
jaw
which then had to be
wired.

daily he put his wife in
rubber diapers
like a
baby.

unable to drive in his
condition
he had to take a taxi to
the medical
center,
had difficulty speaking,
had to
write the directions
down.

on his last visit
they informed him
there would be another
operation: a bit more
left
cheek and a bit more
tounge.

when he returned
he changed his wife’s
diapers
put on the tv
dinners, watched the
evening news
then went to the bedroom, got the
gun, put it to her
temple, fired.

she fell to the
left, he sat upon the
couch
put the gun into his
mouth, pulled the
trigger.

the shots didn’t arouse
the neighbors.

later
the burning tv dinners
did.

somebody arrived, pushed
the door open, saw
it.

soon
the police arrived and
went through their
routine, found
some items:

a closed savings
account and
a checkbook with a
balance of
$1.14
suicide, they
deduced.

in three weeks
there were two
new tenants:
a computer engineer
named
Ross
and his wife
Anatana
who studied
ballet.

they looked like another
upwardly mobile
pair.

kenmc's avatar

@MacBean

Thanks, very much!

MacBean's avatar

Happy to help! :D

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