In Which Richard Brautigan Is The Greatest

Richard Brautigan Should Have A Post

by Alex Carnevale

These poems are among the finest writing in all of literature, and it is a little sad that they were already written, because you know, I actually did think I was the only one. Brautigan killed himself after talking to his girlfriend. It’s sad because we would have been BFF and you’d never kill yourself if I was the one telling you you were the greatest.

R. Brautigan in 1953

Lawrence Ferlinghetti thought Richard was naive, but Ferlinghetti was a trendy hack and Brautigan was a genius. Get three of Brautigan’s books for $10. Now, onto some of Brautigan’s poems.

R. Brautigan and L. Ferlinghetti

IT’S RAINING IN LOVE

I don't know what it is, 
 But I distrust myself 
 When I start to like a girl 
                A lot.   

 It makes me nervous. 
 I don't say the right things 
 Or perhaps I start 
                To examine,

 
                                Evaluate, 
                                               Compute 
                What I am saying.   

 If I say, "Do you think it's going to rain?" 
 and she says, "I don't know," 
 I start thinking:  Does she really like me?   

 In other words 
 I get a little creepy.

   

 A friend of mine once said, 
 "It's twenty times better to be friends 
                with someone 
 than it is to be in love with them."   

 I think he's right and besides, 
 it's raining somewhere, programming flowers   

 

and keeping snails happy. 
                That's all taken care of. 
                                 
                                BUT 
 if a girl likes me a lot 
 and starts getting real nervous 
 and suddenly begins asking me funny questions 
 and looks sad if I give the wrong answers

 
 and she says things like, 
 "Do you think it's going to rain?" 
 and I say, "It beats me," 
 and she says, "Oh," 
 and looks a little sad 
 at the clear blue California sky, 
 I think:  Thank God, it's you, baby, this time

 
              Instead of me.

ALL GIRLS SHOULD HAVE A POEM

For Valerie

All girls should have a poem
written for them even if
we have to turn this God-damn world
upside down to do it.

New Mexico March 16, 1969

15%

She tries to get things out of men
that she can’t get because she’s not
15% prettier.

Where to find audio of Brautigan.

THE SISTER CITIES OF LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO,
AND HIROSHIMA, JAPAN

It was snowing hard when we drove
into Los Alamos. There was a clinical feeling
to the town as if every man, woman and child
were a doctor. We shopped at the Safeway
and got a bag of groceries. A toddler
looked like a brain surgeon. He carefully
watched us shop at the exact place where he would
make his first incision.

LOVE’S NOT THE WAY TO TREAT A FRIEND

 
 Love's not the way to treat a friend. 
 I wouldn't wish that on you.  I don't 
 want to see your eyes forgotten 
 on a rainy day, lost in the endless purse 
                of those who can remember nothing.

   

 Love's not the way to treat a friend. 
 I don't want to see you end up that way 
 with your body being poured like wounded 
 marble into the architecture of those who make 
                bridges out of crippled birds.   

 Love's not the way to treat a friend.
There are so many better things for you
than to see your feelings sold
as magic lanterns to somebody whose body
            casts no light.




 LOVE POEM

  It's so nice
to wake up in the morning
   all alone
and not have to tell somebody
    you love them
when you don't love them
      anymore

Trout Fishing In America

The Richard Brautigan Archives Online

The Brautigan Pages

Richard Brautigan Poems Online

ZOOEY DESCHANEL AND MATTHEW WARD ARE SHE & HIM (BUT WHICH IS WHOM?)

“Change Is Hard” – She & Him

“I Should Have Known Better” – She & Him

“I Was Made For You” – She & Him

“Got Me” – She & Him

“Sweet Darlin’” – She & Him

PREVIOUSLY ON THIS RECORDING:

The Words And Work Of Diane Williams

Will Hubbard On Robert Creeley

Raymond Carver’s Poems