POETRY # 1

1) The commercial borrows the poem “The Laughing Heart” by Charles Bukowski without credit.

2) The use of this poem by a corporation is ironic because the poem tells you to live your life the way you want to but a corporation selling you a materialistic thing and telling you to buy it, technically telling you how to live your life, has used it.

3) The poem does not reflect the reputation of the author because his work would always contain the harsh truth about life in terms of “sex, alcohol abuse, and violence.” But this poem, it gives inspiration and hope to people who let others decide as to how to behave, what to do, and what to say.

4) First of all, to find the title and author of the poem I typed in a phrase from the commercial – “your life is your life” – in my search engine, Google. I found the name of the poem, author and the poem itself at thebestamericanpoetry.typepad.com. For #3, I read the biography of Bukowski on Wikipedia and poetryfoundation.org/bio/charles-bukowski.