POETRY #1

1. This commercial borrows (without credit) The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski.

2. The use of this poem by a corporation is ironic because the poem states, "your life, is your life," yet a corporation's only goal is to get consumers to purchase their products. In this case, Levi's is trying to get consumers to purchase their jeans.

3. Charles Bukowski had quite a challenging life, cultivating his reputation as a hard-living poet. I believe that the poem does reflect on Bukowski's reputation. Having faced the hardships of being bullied and having his work denied by a number of publishers, Charles Bukowski expresses that through times of darkness "there is a light somewhere." Though his life was dark, this "light" helped Bukowski overcome his challenges and gave him the power to keep moving forward.

4. I found the answer to #1 by googling the first line in the commercial, "your life, is your life." http://thebestamericanpoetry.typepad.com/the_best_american_poetry/2008/11/the-laughing-he.html.
I found the answer to #3 by googling "Charles Bukowski" and reading about him in the biography http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/charles-bukowski.