A Bukowski Christmas Eve

waking at nine

at night

to the sound of my mother asking

when did you buy those books?

I didn’t,

They were a gift from Love

I said.

She was musing and then

trying to make me eat

something

I agreed but then

substituted real food for a bowl of sugared cereal

hot ginger tea and

a blunt

then I started suffering from withdrawal

of you.