There is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock.
Genuine
Yes. In Love Is a Dog from Hell (1977), ‘the crunch’ (the poem begins on p. 162), said by the poem’s lyric speaker. These are the character’s words, not a statement in Bukowski’s own voice.
Checked against Charles Bukowski, ‘the crunch’, in Love Is a Dog from Hell: Poems 1974–1977 (Black Sparrow Press, 1977), reproduced in the Bukowski Database’s comparison of three published versions, poem begins on p. 162; the excerpt’s individual page was not confirmed, in a full-text transcription.
- Work
- Love Is a Dog from Hell (Love Is a Dog from Hell: Poems 1974–1977), 1977
- Where
- ‘the crunch’ (the poem begins on p. 162)
- Source
- Charles Bukowski, ‘the crunch’, in Love Is a Dog from Hell: Poems 1974–1977 (Black Sparrow Press, 1977), reproduced in the Bukowski Database’s comparison of three published versions, poem begins on p. 162; the excerpt’s individual page was not confirmed
- Checked
- In a full-text transcription
Researched by AI. Entry updated 28 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
About this quote
The scene
In ‘the crunch’, a catalogue of extremes and violence gives way to an old man alone in a cheap room with a photograph of Marilyn Monroe. The clock image is followed by people exhausted by love or its absence and by a repeated complaint that people are not good to one another. The poem later contrasts promises of success with the isolation and suffering those promises overlook, before its speaker insists that another way must be possible.
What it means
Loneliness can make time seem almost motionless; the ordinary movement of a clock becomes a visible measure of a person’s isolation.
Often misread
It is not a celebration of being alone or a claim that the poet needs solitude to work. In this poem loneliness is suffering, connected to people’s failure to treat one another well. The 1977 magazine version and the posthumously published ‘the crunch (2)’ have different wording, so their lines should not be silently mixed with the 1977 book text.
Topics
Related quotes
- People empty me. I have to get away to refill.
- It’s nice to be included in people’s fantasies but you also like to be accepted for your own sake. Marilyn Monroe
- The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. Dr. Seuss
- Nothing gold can stay. Robert Frost
- But fame is not really for a daily diet, that’s not what fulfills you. It warms you a bit but the warming is temporary. It’s like caviar, you know, it’s good to have caviar but not when you have it every meal every day. Marilyn Monroe
Sources
Cite it
Charles Bukowski, Love Is a Dog from Hell (1977), ‘the crunch’ (the poem begins on p. 162). Spoken by the poem’s lyric speaker. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/there-is-a-loneliness-in-this-world-so-great/ (28 October 2026).
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Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
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