Sex is kicking death in the ass while singing.

In this line Bukowski frames sex as a defiant, life-affirming act set against mortality. The crude violence of “kicking death in the ass” turns fear of extinction into something you can mock and resist, while “singing” adds an element of exuberance—pleasure not merely as escape, but as a triumphant assertion of vitality. The quote fits Bukowski’s broader preoccupation with the body, appetite, and the everyday struggle to find intensity and meaning amid despair, aging, and the inevitability of death. It suggests that physical desire can momentarily invert the power dynamic: life, loudly and joyfully, over death.