Is there any literary way to say "flip the bird"...

Wanna fight about it? Bukowski's "metaphor" was retarded, flawed, and certainly was written only to enforce the author's beliefs of his own greatness.

Upturneth the middlemost digit

Bukowski, if anything, was an incredibly disciplined writer; writing, reading, editing and rewriting on a daily basis in workmanlike fashion. This is all the more remarkable given his dissolute lifestyle. Whatever one thinks of the man or his work, credit must be given to his writerly dedication and workmanship.

Great literature? I wouldn't say so, but certainly up there, damned with the faint praise of minor masterpieces.

huh, that's actually pretty good. might find a way for a sarcastic smartass character to say it,

You start.

People run from guns but my wife sat there as I shot her in the face

Mr Burroughs you are under arrest.

she was hungry

It's an inadequate metaphor about life at best

It depends on the role and point of view of your narrator. If your narrator is a function of the time and place, you can use appropriate terminology.

>Franky flipped the bird to the lippy cunt across the road.

If your narrator is detached and purely an objective observer, you must simply narrate the action and perhaps the intent (although that'd be redundant).

>Franky extended his middle finger on outstretched hand to the man across the road, who was still berating him.

Why is it inadequate to you, and what do you consider an adequate metaphor.
Keep in mind I somewhat agree with you but I wanna see your reasoning.

>Franky extended his middle finger
Yeah, that's what I usually end up using, but it still makes it sound like the narrator has never swore once in their life. It's just very hamfisted.

It is what it is. As long as your narrator is playing by their own rules, you're all good.

wtf I love artfucker1996 now

I don't know the context of this wisdom but he seems to try to suggest that humans are stupid or hypocritical as an attempt to be funny despite the fact that the two situations he is comparing clearly don't relate in that way.
What is offensive here is not that his observation is primitive but that he is trying to be a lol-so-randumb-and-original while being cynical just because it is fashionable.

Bukowski was trying to be fashionable?

I have no reason to think he is actually cynical, nor do I think that an actually cynical person would make such a pointless observation.
He was just trying to be a smartass.

it's not hard to show bukowski, he's mentally lazy bullshitter who mainly appeals to equally lazy artsy hipsters

>He was just trying to be a smartass.
I would have argued with you, if not for that delicious ham on rye chapter, where he shouts nazi stuff at university just for attention.

>he's mentally lazy bullshitter who mainly appeals to equally lazy artsy hipsters
yet you couldn't even put an "a" before mentally!

hey guys i have an urgent question, what's the phenomenon called when a community has an ironic subculture but then people join the community who aren't being ironic and take the members at face value?

It's a quote misattributed to Descartes. No specific word for it.

i actually gave the finger to a couple of hobos in the dream i had last night, then they broke my window and i got scared and woke up.

but that's voltaire