So You Want to Be a Writer?

"so you want to be a writer?” is a lyric poem and an epistolatory poem. It’s a lyric poem because it’s personal and somewhat short. It expresses Charles Bukowski's thoughts on what qualifies someone to be a writer. The work is epistolatory since it reads like a letter. Epistolatory comes from the Latin word epistula, which translates to "letter” in English. Bukowski replies to the question as if he’s composing a letter. As with a letter, there is a specific addressee—the person who posed the question about wanting to be a writer.

Bukowski's response features repetitive negative language. The phrase "don’t do it” is repeated 10 times and drives the poem’s bleak and weary tone. Writing is not an inherently positive or celebratory vocation. For the true writer, writing is a violent, explosive act that has little to do with a person’s wellbeing or society at large. It’s a burdensome destiny. The feisty, dreary tone highlights the tempestuous fate of the true writer.

Bukowski establishes the negative tone and the theme of violence in Line 1 of Stanza 1. The third word of the poem is "doesn’t” and the fifth word is "bursting.” He pairs a negative contraction (“doesn’t”) with a bellicose—signifying aggression—verb ("bursting").