Excellent analysis of the poet. "Pleasures of the Damned" wasn't my first Bukowski book. It was probably somewhere around my fifth or sixth. But it was the first that was so damned good that it sparked poems in my own mind so fierce that I scribbled then in the endpapers and margins of pages when I had no other paper handy. I just had to get them out before they were gone. Love that book.
I want to thank you for introducing me to Bukowski from another one of your posts. I have purchased 3 of his collections, and gifted one to my brother on cats. I’m not sure why his writing appeals to me. I think he got reality and rejected the illusionary world that exists. He saw through it and wrote it down. The poem ‘Wandering in a
Cage’ reminds of going to work each day. Thanks again, his writing expresses what I couldn’t name myself.
Excellent. Agree we need to be engaged in truth telling across many platforms.
Songwriters, poets, and artists may channel wisdom without even understanding it - or applying it - themselves. It is important to distinguish the wisdom from the failed "perfect" human beings we all are.
I will always love Bukowski, his life made him a more sensitive soul than some will admit. He gets what being a human is. And he's one of the only two poets who have made me cry. (The other is Ginsberg).
Can't believe I did not leave a comment here, because Bukowski is the only poet I really like, which probably makes me one of the nitwits. This is an essay and review worth rereading.
Wow. Incredible. I really only knew his Post Office days' books, his raunchy lifestyle. Never read his poems. Saw the documentary on him, b/w, in Paris, sub-titled. Loved so many lines in Harrison's review (also a fan) but the last two stood out--"It is ironical that those who man the gates of the canon will rarely if ever make it inside themselves. Bukowski came in a secret back door." Quite the ending.
I enjoyed your views. Interesting to end with manning the gates as women are completely missing from the long list of people, writers, I never heard of as a non literary yet active participant of life. These men are so special they are compared or contrasted with your admired flawed man you also think of as a monster. Reminds me of a Steely Dan song: the things you think are precious I can’t understand.” Not ever hearing the terms, I’m sure I am an Able poet rather than a Cain person so it may be that my radar is different in deterring the value of life and poetry. Still much insight is found in the poetry of the self-imposed fallen.
It's not a surprise that Bukowski wss a big influence for me as a young poet but it's perhaps a surprise that he was a big influence on me as a Native American, especially a kid who grew up on the reservation. His battered self and battered people were just like my battered self and battered people. I've been contemplating writing a private detective novel featuring a battered tribal cop so I've been reading a lot of Bukowski again.
I love both these poets. Harrison knew all about the trauma of the ugly, quasimodo self-view. A superb read is Jim Harrison's Off to the Side, a memoir about how he received the calling as well as family, youth, the natural world, vices, cuisine, travel, Hollywood doom and gloom, heroes, and very importantly how he was blinded in youth after a girl shoved a broken bottle into his left eye in a vacant lot in the heat of a childhood arguement. It changed his life. He suffered much for it, and it's great that he comes to Bukowski's defense here and points out the shades and hues one might miss if distracted by critics (those of the harsh variety).
I picked up his book Love Is A Dog From Hell in the past year. His bile toward women in particular and women in general went on and on. It sickened me enough to make the book unreadable. I don't remember Pleasures of the Damned being that way, though it has been years. I wonder if that collection left out many of his viciously misogynistic poems.
So here's the thing; this was a great take on Bukowski's life, work and legend; but on the other hand, I got the sense that anyone who lives differently than he does/did, means their work won't be sincere. Does that mean that anyone who wants to be a real poet, let alone a great one, has to live in the same manner as he did? Living like Bukowski doesn't mean one will create great poetry.
It's not a requirement. Everyone has their own path in life. Everyone has to listen to the song inside their own heart and whether to go along with its beats or against them. Everyone lands wherever they land, and all they can do is to do their best with what they have and where life plants them in the present moment. Then we see what sprouts from that: great poetry, not so great poetry, or just plain scat.
Excellent analysis of the poet. "Pleasures of the Damned" wasn't my first Bukowski book. It was probably somewhere around my fifth or sixth. But it was the first that was so damned good that it sparked poems in my own mind so fierce that I scribbled then in the endpapers and margins of pages when I had no other paper handy. I just had to get them out before they were gone. Love that book.
thank you; I’m “an unacademic and casual” Bukowski fan, so this article is valuable and interesting to me. thank you!
I want to thank you for introducing me to Bukowski from another one of your posts. I have purchased 3 of his collections, and gifted one to my brother on cats. I’m not sure why his writing appeals to me. I think he got reality and rejected the illusionary world that exists. He saw through it and wrote it down. The poem ‘Wandering in a
Cage’ reminds of going to work each day. Thanks again, his writing expresses what I couldn’t name myself.
Excellent. Agree we need to be engaged in truth telling across many platforms.
Songwriters, poets, and artists may channel wisdom without even understanding it - or applying it - themselves. It is important to distinguish the wisdom from the failed "perfect" human beings we all are.
“Poets are better off with imaginary lovers”
Ain’t that the truth 😂👌🏼
I will always love Bukowski, his life made him a more sensitive soul than some will admit. He gets what being a human is. And he's one of the only two poets who have made me cry. (The other is Ginsberg).
Can't believe I did not leave a comment here, because Bukowski is the only poet I really like, which probably makes me one of the nitwits. This is an essay and review worth rereading.
Wow. Incredible. I really only knew his Post Office days' books, his raunchy lifestyle. Never read his poems. Saw the documentary on him, b/w, in Paris, sub-titled. Loved so many lines in Harrison's review (also a fan) but the last two stood out--"It is ironical that those who man the gates of the canon will rarely if ever make it inside themselves. Bukowski came in a secret back door." Quite the ending.
I enjoyed your views. Interesting to end with manning the gates as women are completely missing from the long list of people, writers, I never heard of as a non literary yet active participant of life. These men are so special they are compared or contrasted with your admired flawed man you also think of as a monster. Reminds me of a Steely Dan song: the things you think are precious I can’t understand.” Not ever hearing the terms, I’m sure I am an Able poet rather than a Cain person so it may be that my radar is different in deterring the value of life and poetry. Still much insight is found in the poetry of the self-imposed fallen.
Thank you for such a great commentary it gladdens my heart in my old age
It's not a surprise that Bukowski wss a big influence for me as a young poet but it's perhaps a surprise that he was a big influence on me as a Native American, especially a kid who grew up on the reservation. His battered self and battered people were just like my battered self and battered people. I've been contemplating writing a private detective novel featuring a battered tribal cop so I've been reading a lot of Bukowski again.
I love both these poets. Harrison knew all about the trauma of the ugly, quasimodo self-view. A superb read is Jim Harrison's Off to the Side, a memoir about how he received the calling as well as family, youth, the natural world, vices, cuisine, travel, Hollywood doom and gloom, heroes, and very importantly how he was blinded in youth after a girl shoved a broken bottle into his left eye in a vacant lot in the heat of a childhood arguement. It changed his life. He suffered much for it, and it's great that he comes to Bukowski's defense here and points out the shades and hues one might miss if distracted by critics (those of the harsh variety).
I picked up his book Love Is A Dog From Hell in the past year. His bile toward women in particular and women in general went on and on. It sickened me enough to make the book unreadable. I don't remember Pleasures of the Damned being that way, though it has been years. I wonder if that collection left out many of his viciously misogynistic poems.
He hated men equally. Bukowski was a wild, comedic writer. He's not for the puritans, pretend or otherwise.
You honor him well even as you walk the fence line. Your kind.
You see he's authentic, true to himself no one else and this brings healing to others. It is recognized. Thank you.
So here's the thing; this was a great take on Bukowski's life, work and legend; but on the other hand, I got the sense that anyone who lives differently than he does/did, means their work won't be sincere. Does that mean that anyone who wants to be a real poet, let alone a great one, has to live in the same manner as he did? Living like Bukowski doesn't mean one will create great poetry.
It's not a requirement. Everyone has their own path in life. Everyone has to listen to the song inside their own heart and whether to go along with its beats or against them. Everyone lands wherever they land, and all they can do is to do their best with what they have and where life plants them in the present moment. Then we see what sprouts from that: great poetry, not so great poetry, or just plain scat.
John Martin fine editing, seriously?
https://mjpbooks.com/blog/the-senseless-tragic-rape-of-charles-bukowskis-ghost-by-john-martins-black-sparrow-press/
I want to read the review but the link you posted takes me to a gaming software page.