Life's Pleasures Quote by Basil Bunting

“Always carry a corkscrew and the wine shall provide itself” is the kind of line that masquerades as practical advice while quietly smuggling in a philosophy of living and making art. Basil Bunting, a modernist poet who prized craft, discipline, and a certain bracing disdain for fluff, is really talking about readiness: the unglamorous tool you keep on you so that opportunity, pleasure, and even inspiration can be converted from potential into something you can actually drink.

The wit hinges on a reversal of romantic myth. People like to believe the “wine” appears first: the grand occasion, the patron, the perfect mood, the lightning-bolt muse. Bunting flips it. Possession of the small, specific instrument is what conjures the occasion. It’s a working poet’s credo, closer to “show up with your notebook” than “wait for genius.” The line also winks at social reality: wine exists in the world in abundance, especially in the circles where art and conversation happen; what’s scarce is the preparedness to take part fully, to unlock what’s already there.

Subtextually, the corkscrew is technique. Meter, ear, revision, knowledge of language: not glamorous, not Instagrammable, but the difference between staring at a bottle and sharing it. There’s a faint cynicism, too: the world won’t hand you pleasure or meaning pre-opened. Carry your own means. If you do, the night (and the poem) has a way of finding you.