The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Bukowski, Charles. "Bluebird” from “The Last Night of the Earth Poems” (HarperCollins, 1992).

Note that parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the lines of the poem from which the quotations are taken.

“Bluebird” is a two-stanza, forty-six line poem published for the first time in 1992 written from Bukowski’s perspective about a bluebird living in his chest, yearning to get out. In the first stanza, Bukowski describes himself as too tough to let the bluebird out of his chest, reluctant to let anybody see him. He establishes the bluebird as a metaphor for his own vulnerability and determines the best way to keep the bluebird from escaping is to “pour whiskey on him and inhale / cigarette smoke” (9-10). He keeps the bluebird hidden from everyone he encounters, including women he spends the night with and the grocery clerks who presumably see him on a regular basis.

In the second stanza, Bukowski repeats the opening three lines of the poem and asks the bluebird several questions about his intentions and attempts to cajole him to stay where he is. He reveals to the reader that he does let the bluebird out sometimes at night when everybody is asleep. He comforts the bluebird, reminding him that he will always know he is there, before he puts him back in his heart and they fall asleep together. He ends the poem by informing readers, in a somewhat defiant tone, that he does not weep.