"Regardless"
by Charles Bukowski
the nights you fight best
are
when all the weapons are pointed
at you,
when all the voices
hurl their insults
while the dream is being
strangled.
the nights you fight best
are
when reason gets
kicked in the
gut,
when the chariots of
gloom
encircle
you.
the nights you fight best
are
when the laughter of fools
fills the
air,
when the kiss of death is
mistaken for
love.
the nights you fight best
are
when the game is
fixed,
when the crowd screams
for your
blood.
the nights you fight best
are
on a night like
this
as you chase a thousand
dark rats from
your brain,
as you rise up against the
impossible,
as you become a brother
to the tender sister
of joy and
move on
regardless.
The first line begins a refrain that will commence each stanza throughout the poem. The nights you fight best will dominate as the topic of the poem. Each refrain will be followed by two contextual reasons across multiple lines identifying why the reader excels in fights.
The second line is simply the word are. The spacing here adds pause. If the poem were to be set to music it'd be something like a three quarter note pause. This is to build up emphasis and help solidify and make cogent the reasons for fighting best.
The third line will encapsulate something of the truth the poem is getting at. In it's most fundamental form, the line conveys that when the reader is most opposed that is when they fight best. But this isn't simply to convey opposition, it's the utter unanimity of the opposition all their weapons.
Lines five and six straddle the line in meaning between universal reprobation and schizophrenic voices. The animosity of the insults is construed as strangling the dream. Here the hatred of the crowds for the reader is palpable. They threaten the dream of the reader and we'll see that their obdurate in their malice. Bukowski keeps a staccato and asymmetrical rhythm consistent with beat poetry and zen aesthetics. The meter here conveys sincerity and intimacy of the feeling invoked.
The next line is the refrain beginning the stanza afresh. The second line are is consistent as well in it's repetition, building anticipation and rhythm for the whole.
The meat of the stanza conveys again the reasons for the readers excellence in conflict, which stems from the unreasonable nature of the opposition. Not only are the opposition unreasonable, they flagrantly kick any attempts at rationality in the gut. That is to say they are positively hostile to reasoned discourse.
The next few lines in the stanza use the metaphor of chariots to convey the way gloom works. This will begin an impression that the reader may carry into other lines. Circling around and around in what may be a gladiatorial ring, the presence of gloom blocks off all routes of escape. There's a real threat of being destroyed by these impressions, but that's when the reader fights best.
After the refrain the contextual circumstances for fighting best here is when the air is filled with the laughter of fools. Here again the paucity of reason in the opposition is made apparent. Not only are the opposition stupid, poorly informed, and/or ignorant, but there's a malignancy about them aired by their stupidity.
The second set of reasons come with the kiss of death that is mistaken for love. Here the idea is a mistake on the behalf of the reader. When betrayal or willful deceit by the loved one takes place, this is when the reader fights best.
The fourth stanza speaks about the rigged nature of the game being played. The reader is against impossible odds because the way the conflict has been set up. The idea of a rigged game implies that there should be some sort of fairness involved with the competition. That certain rules should be followed that allow the process to take place in some sort of framework where utter brutality would be impossible. But the game is rigged, and there is no absolutely no capacity to trust the rules of this conflict.
The second half is when the crowd screams for you blood. Here again the anonymous facelessness of the crowd is made malignant. Given in the context of a fixed game, the impression of a gladiatorial arena is invoked again. The masses want blood, and they know the game is rigged but don't care. This is when the reader fights best, when the injustice of the situation makes itself apparent.
The last stanza brings home the immediacy of the fight. On nights like this... here the reader is seen as scouring rats from their mind and standing up even under impossible odds. The poem breaks it's form and forms up for a crescendo and denouement.
To become a brother to the tender sister of joy is not itself a straightforward metaphor. Here the battle between despair and joy has been decided. But the man, and he is a brother, is not joy himself. He has beaten gloom, and become a brother of joy, but he moves on regardless, without getting caught up in what would be apparent victory under the circumstances. Keeping joy under these combative circumstances would be to endanger it, or her if you like.
The next few lines in the stanza use the metaphor of chariots to convey the way gloom works. This will begin an impression that the reader may carry into other lines. Circling around and around in what may be a gladiatorial ring, the presence of gloom blocks off all routes of escape. There's a real threat of being destroyed by these impressions, but that's when the reader fights best.
After the refrain the contextual circumstances for fighting best here is when the air is filled with the laughter of fools. Here again the paucity of reason in the opposition is made apparent. Not only are the opposition stupid, poorly informed, and/or ignorant, but there's a malignancy about them aired by their stupidity.
The second set of reasons come with the kiss of death that is mistaken for love. Here the idea is a mistake on the behalf of the reader. When betrayal or willful deceit by the loved one takes place, this is when the reader fights best.
The fourth stanza speaks about the rigged nature of the game being played. The reader is against impossible odds because the way the conflict has been set up. The idea of a rigged game implies that there should be some sort of fairness involved with the competition. That certain rules should be followed that allow the process to take place in some sort of framework where utter brutality would be impossible. But the game is rigged, and there is no absolutely no capacity to trust the rules of this conflict.
The second half is when the crowd screams for you blood. Here again the anonymous facelessness of the crowd is made malignant. Given in the context of a fixed game, the impression of a gladiatorial arena is invoked again. The masses want blood, and they know the game is rigged but don't care. This is when the reader fights best, when the injustice of the situation makes itself apparent.
The last stanza brings home the immediacy of the fight. On nights like this... here the reader is seen as scouring rats from their mind and standing up even under impossible odds. The poem breaks it's form and forms up for a crescendo and denouement.
To become a brother to the tender sister of joy is not itself a straightforward metaphor. Here the battle between despair and joy has been decided. But the man, and he is a brother, is not joy himself. He has beaten gloom, and become a brother of joy, but he moves on regardless, without getting caught up in what would be apparent victory under the circumstances. Keeping joy under these combative circumstances would be to endanger it, or her if you like.
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