Bukowski Told Us “Don’t Try.” Should We Listen?

Photo by Yannick Pulver on Unsplash

I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the titans of industry and studying the people at the forefront of their field. As far as I could tell, they did a lot of work. In fact, they often quote Thomas Edison who said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.”

Not only does that imply effort, it illustrates devotion to a task and a laser focus to a specific goal. But how can this be true if poet Charles Bukowski was adamant that we “don’t try?”

I remember the first time I read those words, “Don’t try.” I felt so validated. My entire life was filled with effort and being proactive in order to stay one step ahead or at least to catch up. Then when I exhausted myself, I had no choice but to stop. Or in other words, give up.

A strange thing happens when you give up. Things change — and for the better. But I was not raised to sit around and do nothing. I wasn’t raised to wait for the change I wanted. I was raised to go and get it, but I had no evidence of this working in my favor.

In October 1963, Bukowski wrote to script writer and fellow poet John William Corrington and recalled when someone had asked him how he creates his poems. Bukowski wrote,

“You don’t try. That’s very important: ‘not’ to try, either for Cadillacs, creation or…