This Bluebird poem depicts a bluebird inside the poet that stands for a vulnerable hidden inner self, suffocated behind a hard, self-reliant exterior. Bukowski portrays the struggle to keep that inner voice inside, using vices and distractions- whiskey, smoking, and a nightlife routine to dull the feeling and keep others from noticing. The bird only escapes at night, when everyone else is asleep, and the vulnerable poet and the bird continue a secret pact. The moment of connection is powerful enough to move him, yet he insists he does not weep. But the theme of the poem suggests otherwise.
There's a bluebird in my heart
but I'm too tough for him,
I'm not going to let anybody see you.
There's a bluebird in my heart
but I pour whiskey on him
and inhale cigarette smoke
never know that he's in there.
There's a bluebird in my heart
but I'm too tough for him,
do you want to mess me up?
You want to screw up the works?
You want to blow my book sales in Europe?
There's a bluebird in my heart
I only let him out at night sometimes
I say, I know that you're there,
but he's singing a little in there,
I haven't quite let him die
and we sleep together like that