Have you ever read "Roll the Dice" by Charles Bukowski? It's my pep talk, my slap in the face, ice down my pants, my knowing smile, my kick in the ass, my ejection seat to the street, my "stop your friggin' whining" card, my hand in my pocket, my "pick me up, dust me off, and put me back in the dirt" surrogate father speech.
I didn't need it today. Every once in a long while I do, but not today. Today I'm just sharing what many people already may know, but it's good to hear again and again. This elixir of the artistically damned does it for me like a new box of Kleenex. *laughing* Why you ask? A new box of Kleenex smells exactly like my first guitar case when I was 15. A whole new world was sucking and taking me into it's arms...making everything exciting, fresh, wide-eyed with no limits and untold possibilities.

Roll the Dice
if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.

if you’re going to try, go all the
way. this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.

go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or
4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the
worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.

if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the
gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.

do it, do it, do it.
do it.

all the way
all the way.
you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter,
it’s the only good fight
there is.