Upon reading a critical review by Charles Bukowski

its difficult to accept
and you look around the room
for the person they are talking about.

he's not there
he's not here.
he's gone

by the time they get your book you
are no longer your
book.
you are on the next page,
the next
book.

and worse,
they don't even get the old books right.
you are given credit for things you don't
deserve, for insights that aren't
there.

people read themselves into books, altering
what they need and discarding what they
don't.

good critics are as rare as good
writers.
and whether I get a good review or a
bad one
I take neither seriously.

I am on the next page,
the next book.