Charles Bukowski [1920-1994] was one of the most famous of the American poets of his time. He was first published in his 20s., but gave up serious writing for the world of work and bars. He spent a lot of time roaming from job to job living in rooming houses from the East coast to the West coast before joining the United States Postal Service in Los Angeles. His life at that time bordered on insanity and death, two prevalent themes in his writing. The poem 'The Bluebird' by Charles Bukowski conveys the message that despite the hard exterior, inside a man, there is a persona filled with sentiment, emotions. The great vulnerability that men possess is oppressed under the social structure where tears are weakness and vulnerability is a disadvantage. I think it's the tough side of his nature that won't let the bluebird out because life is the pits and too many people are shitheads so he has to keep up the tough guy image, and it's also the image he's successfully cultivated ("you want to blow my book sales in Europe?") but he's more sensitive than he lets on, and he must have been right about that choice because nothing sells like success and he certainly achieved it!