Defend the Poet

Charles Bukowski makes some outstanding claims in his poem Dinosauria, We, but claims that are worth considering. I think he is seriously concerned about the outlook of our society. The way the society is set up is ultimately leading it to its destruction. The negative affects of the society keep piling up and eventually take over. The poem may present an extreme scenario which may not happen. Bukowski is assuming that since A happened then Z happens, but he may have forgotten the steps B through Y that also have to go about before the eventual extinction of mankind. This is not to say that I do not think Bukowski's forecast might ever happen. I do think that with the examples Bukowski offers, we can examine the destructiveness that society can have. For example, in Dinosauria, We, it says that that we are "Born into this/ Into hospitals which are so expensive that it is cheaper to die/ Into lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guilty". The system is set up in such a way that the services are exploiting the very people that they are supposed to help. The system is more considered with who has more money than with providing justice. This analysis makes me think that there is something fundamentally wrong with our society. These examples are relevant to our current circumstances. Bukowski also observes our society become inhuman. Abusing other people and our environment. I can see how our society can be moving in this general direction, but I think Bukowski expresses to much cynicism about our society. There are some good agents in our society that are mitigating the damage of the bad ones. Things like pro bono work. But maybe I am also just being too optimistic.