what’s the use of a title?

They don’t make it 

the beautiful die in flame- 

suicide pills, rat poison, rope what- 

ever… 

they rip their arms off, 

throw themselves out of windows, 

they pull their eyes out of the sockets, 

reject love 

reject hate 

reject, reject. 

they don’t make it 

the beautiful can’t endure, 

they are butterflies 

they are doves 

they are sparrows, 

they don’t make it. 

one tall shot of flame 

while the old men play checkers in the park 

one flame, one good flame 

while the old men play checkers in the park 

in the sun. 

the beautiful are found in the edge of a room 

crumpled into spiders and needles and silence 

and we can never understand why they 

left, they were so 

beautiful. 

they don’t make it, 

the beautiful die young 

and leave the ugly to their ugly lives. 

lovely and brilliant: life and suicide and death 

as the old men play checkers in the sun 

in the park.

 -Charles Bukowski