Charles Bukowski's poem “Alone with Everybody” was written in the mid-1970s and first published in a collection of poems titled Love Is a Dog from Hell in 1977. Bukowski is a German-born American author known for his ability to convey feelings of utter desperation in his writing, and he does not fail to create a tone that shifts from disinterested to discontented in this poem. “Alone With Everybody” details the emotions of an isolated individual contemplating the meaning of life. Bukowski explores the complex inner workings of an existential crisis with his readers in “Alone With Everybody” through the use of dramatic shifts in tone in his stream-of-consciousness writing style. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The poem begins with the speaker reflecting on the idea of ​​creation and the meaning of the human form, but Bukowski's choice of words leads readers to assume a sense of indifference rather than awe toward these topics . The flow of the first stanza is very slow and buzzing and seems to imitate a kind of emotionlessness in the poet's thought process. Bukowski uses the word “and” seven times in the first stanza of the poem, mimicking a feeling of repetitiveness he feels in life. Bukowski describes the complexity of life in an overly simplified way: the flesh covers the bones and in there they put a mind and sometimes a soul. (97) His simplistic style and his passivity on the subject are striking for their flatness and the formulation is very impersonal and cold. “Flesh” and “bones” create a sense of distance between the poet and the human form, and the distance further emphasizes the poet's feelings of isolation and alienation. To further emphasize the impersonal quality of the poem, Bukowski, instead of directly addressing a creator or naming a god, chooses to use the pronoun “they,” and this adds to the vague and passive quality of the first stanza. The first lines lead to an understanding of the poet's peculiar state of mind and set a dull tone. Indeed, the first stanza continues to explain the monotony and futility of life through the eyes of the poet as he further delves into his thoughts on the purpose of existence. After an initial contemplation of creation and the human form, Bukowski writes about love and relationships: and women break vases against the walls and men drink too much and no one finds the right one but keeps looking, crawling in and out of beds. (97) The poet presents love life as impersonally as creation, and adheres to the monotonous tone with which he began the poem. The repetitiveness with which Bukowski presents the idea of ​​love leaves the impression of a person simply going through the motions of life. Bukowski's interpretation of love is atypical in its form, because, instead of expressing a normal emotion such as happiness or sadness, the poet creates a feeling of complete emptiness and exhaustion when it comes to love. Bukowski continues, the flesh covers the bones and the flesh seeks something more than the flesh. (97) The poet further expands the concept of simply going through the motions of life and longing for a greater purpose to no avail with the employment of the word “quest” in the poem. The poet makes it seem that love is lost, and he is on an endless and hopeless search. In addition to the emotionless treatment of the theme of love, the poem also treats love ambiguously. While the poet mentions the desire to find something more meaningful in life, he also states its futility by saying that “no one finds the right one.” Man.