Mia Goth’s favourite Charles Bukowski poem: “It was the most open and vulnerable”
Mia Goth is quickly solidifying her place in history, becoming one of the finest actors of our time. Seemingly dedicated to strange roles and daring projects, her work so far has seen her embody complex, terrifying and tricky characters. From her debut in Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac to her triumphant performance as Pearl, when she screams, “I’m a star”, it feels like a fact for Mia Goth.
Born in London to a Canadian father and Brazilian mother, Mia Goth has been brought up in a cultural melting pot of artistic education. Her grandmother, or vovó, is the Brazilian actor Maria Gladys, who she says always encouraged Goth to “expand [her] universe as much as possible”.
In a conversation with Cultured Magazine, Goth includes her grandmother alongside Uma Thurman, Björk, and German expressionist artists in a list of her most important cultural influences. Another major source of inspiration and influence for Goth comes in the form of Charles Bukowski.
The German-American author is renowned as one of the most influential writers of the 1960s thanks to his column Notes Of A Dirty Old Man. He was once dubbed Bukowski the “laureate of American lowlife” due to his controversial, often filthy and regularly offensive subject matter. When you look at the projects Mia Goth has taken on, never shying away from the grotesque or gorey, her love for the writer makes so much sense.
In particular, Goth picks out one of Bukowski’s later poems, Bluebird. “It’s a much more tender poem of his and it’s really unlike all of his other writing,” she says. A confessional poem that delivers a rare moment of heartbreaking honesty from Bukowski, Bluebird looks at his loneliness and his regret for drinking his life away. “It was the most open and vulnerable that he is in all of his writing,” Mia Goth continues as her reasoning for why she loves the piece.
Bukowski’s poem begins, “There’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out but I’m too tough for him.” Originally published in 1992 as part of his anthology, The Last Night of the Earth Poems, it was the last collection published while Bukowski was still alive. “I pour whiskey on him and inhale cigarette smoke and the whores and the bartenders and the grocery clerks never know that he’s in there,” Bukowski continues, contemplating his lifestyle choices.
A piece about not quite living up to who you thought you’d be, it feels like Bluebird would’ve been her character Pearl’s favourite poem too, perfectly fitting the disappointment and upset that role feels. Clearly bringing a whole world of cinematic and literary references to her work, it’s no wonder Mia Goth is storming to the very top of the acting world.
