Charles Bukowski - Friendly Advice to a Lot of Young Men

Go to Tibet.
Ride a camel.
Read the bible.
Dye your shoes blue.
Grow your beard.
Circle the world in a paper canoe.
Subscribe to the Saturday Evening Post.
Chew on the left side of you mouth only.
Marry a woman with one leg and shave with a straight razor.
And carve your name in her arm.

Brush your teeth with gasoline.
Sleep all day and climb trees at night.
Be a monk and drink buckshot and beer.
Hold your head under the water and play violin.
Do a belly dance before pink candles.
Kill your dog.
Run for mayor.
Live in a barrel.
Break your head with a hatchet.
Plant tulips in the rain.

But don't write poetry.