In recent years, much has been made of the phenomenon of “outsider art,” or art brut. These terms, created respectively by art critic Roger Cardinal and artist Jean Dubuffet, refer to the creations of artists who work outside of the mainstream, such as psychiatric patients.

Now, the term applies to visual art, but if we shift the definition to include the written word, I can think of no more prominent standard-bearer for lit brut than dive bar janitor Charlie Kelly of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Charlie’s illiteracy is one of the show’s most dependable running gags, but in spite of his inability to read or write, he creates. Constantly. Whether it be songs, poems, or plays, Charlie is far and away the most artistic and literary member of the Sunny gang.

After I recently passed off one of Charlie’s creations as an e.e. cummings poem, to great success and over a thousand notes on Tumblr from kids tagging it #poetry and #words and #this is so beautiful, I’ve decided to conduct a little experiment.

Below you’ll find excerpts of several poems – some by Charles Bukowski, and some by Charlie Kelly. Can you guess which is which without peeking at the answer key?

I’ve taken the liberty of removing capitalization and most punctuation to level the playing field, but all wording and line breaks remain the same.

Good luck!

1.

then i got up and took a crap

there was a big spider in marie’s bathroom

but i crapped

2.

what we need is more

beer

3.

there’s a spider

he’s deep in my soul

he’s lived here for years

4.

i remember the cows

i once painted in art class

and they looked good

5.

i run and run and run and run

and run and run and run

he guns and guns and

guns and guns and guns

and guns and guns

6.

speaks like zeus

smells like poops

rage all over

from his head

down to his shoes

7.

the most horrible thing

i could think of

was part of me being

what ejaculated out of the

end of his

stupid penis

8.

don’t be a whore

tonight

because i got

nothing left

i’m spent

i’m really exhausted

too much sex

and too much stuff

9.

i could start

knocking cans from the shelves and

also rolls of towels, toilet paper,

silver foil,

i could throw oranges, bananas, tomatoes

through the air, i could take cans of

beer from the refrigerated section and

start gulping them

10.

they keep making them

and everybody keeps buying them

and wearing them

and the faces are just like

the american flag shirt

11.

our words

our passion that flows

like beer

misery chains

thunder rain

12.

thack thack thack thack

and then i hear birds

and thack thack thack

and i go to bed

13.

god damn, it’s almost like being shot in the ass

14.

on his bed made for kings

on his toilet made out of gold

15.

i’ll bet you sucked your mother’s nipples until you were

twelve years old

16.

if here by now then bad place be

trouble time for you

when heat comes

17.

have you hugged your rat today?

suddenly i have the urge to urinate

18.

we’re gonna do all the drugs

and then we’re gonna try

to fix the lights

19.

but she still looked good to me, she still looked good

and all thanks to an ugly horse

20.

when i am feeling

low

all i have to do is

watch my cats

and my

courage

returns

i study these

creatures

they are my

teachers

ANSWER KEY:

1. Charles Bukowski, the spider

2. Charles Bukowski, the crunch

3. Charlie Kelly, Go Fuck Yourselves

4. Charles Bukowski, cows in Art Class

5. Charlie Kelly, Hans Wermhatt

6. Charlie Kelly, Untitled (For Dennis)

7. Charles Bukowski, Three Oranges

8. Charlie Kelly, Untitled (For Dee)

9. Charles Bukowski, A Close Call While Shopping

10. Charles Bukowski, American Flag Shirt

11. Charlie Kelly and Dee Reynolds, The Deffest

12. Charles Bukowski, the house

13. Charles Bukowski, back to the machinegun

14. Charlie Kelly, Look at King Dennis

15. Charles Bukowski, two kinds of hell

16. Charlie Kelly, Bad Place

17. Charles Bukowski, the lucky ones

18. Charlie Kelly, The Drugs

19. Charles Bukowski, A $340 Horse and a $100 Whore

20. Charles Bukowski, My Cats