Charles Bukowski

The movie Barfly was also loosely based on his life. I happen to be a fan. Bukowski, Kerouac, Henry Miller, Thomas Hardy, Kesey, Timothy Leary, all standard lit for the college student in transition. I sucked all of that up like cocaine. You should check out his poetry. It can be quite amusing, and disarming sometimes, if you buy into the 'legend' of Bukowski. Here is one fine example:

16-bit Intel 8088 chip
Charles Bukowski

With an Apple Macintosh
you can't run Radio Shack programs
in its disc drive.
nor can a Commodore 64
drive read a file
you have created on an
IBM Personal Computer.
both Kaypro and Osborne computers use
the CP/M operating system
but can't read each other's
handwriting
for they format (write
on) discs in different
ways.
the Tandy 2000 runs MS-DOS but
can't use most programs produced for
the IBM Personal Computer
unless certain
bits and bytes are
altered
but the wind still blows over
Savannah
and in the Spring
the turkey buzzard struts and
flounces before his
hens.

I like that poem, Cav. Thanks.

I saw Barfly, and I heard that Bukowski hated it. I guess that's to be expected though. He seemed to have a lot of hate to go around. A very interesting guy.

Very interesting. He hated Barfly because it really didn't portray him as a real artist, or a real man, just a parody of a perpetuated myth. I look forward to your thoughts on the other movie, which I have not seen.

He is also prominent in the independent film Poetry in Motion, another interesting flick that actually deals with real poets, their work, and their opinions.

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084514/

Thanks, Cav. Well, I'm on my way to see the movie. I'll let you know how it is.

The poems are good, never got into the books. I was supposed to read from Bukowski at my sister's wedding, but she and the groom wussed out.

Wimps...

Yeah. And they got hitched in this funky old octagonal sailor's church near Oakland. Would've been perfect.

Well, that was a pretty interesting movie. It was filled with anecdotes from him, interviews with him and people he knew, and scenes from his readings, etc.

The story went all the way from his self-described "horror" of a childhood (he was beaten regularly with a belt from the time he was about 6 until he was about eleven), to his outcast status in high school, all the way through his amazing life as a drinker and writer. I found it pretty amazing that he wrote constantly from the time he was in his late teens, but he never "made it" as a writer until he was in his late forties/early fifties. Inspiring stuff.

It seems he was a bit of a "handful" to women, as one of his ex-girlfriends described him. In one scene, they showed him in a filmed interview in the 80s. He and his last wife were on their couch, and he starts talking about how she is always pushing him, and then he started talking about how he's going to get a Jewish lawyer and get rid of her, and she starts to defend herself, and he loses it. He kicks her and pushes her off the couch, calls her a f*cking whore and a ******* c*nt, and it was all captured on film. The guy was one crazy son of a bitch, but damn could he write.

There were a lot of good poems that they presented in the film too, and it was really good stuff. So blunt and fearless, and no bullshit kind of stuff. I am not into poetry really, because I just don't like most of the stuff I've seen. But now that I've heard some of his, I may have to go out and get a book of his poems. They also talked about a book called "Women" that sounds like a must read.

There is so much more I'd like to say about this Bukowski fellow, but I just don't have the patience to write it all down. Suffice it to say, I liked the movie a lot, and I think the guy was a freakin' mad genius!

Bluebird
Charles Bukowski

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?

*This one for me really shows Bukowski's power as a writer, the fear behind the machismo is expressed so well, almost child-like

That poem was in the movie. It is amazing. Here's another one I like that was read in the movie.

The Genius of the Crowd

there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average
human being to supply any given army on any given day

and the best at murder are those who preach against it
and the best at hate are those who preach love
and the best at war finally are those who preach peace

those who preach god, need god
those who preach peace do not have peace
those who preach peace do not have love

beware the preachers
beware the knowers
beware those who are always reading books
beware those who either detest poverty
or are proud of it
beware those quick to praise
for they need praise in return
beware those who are quick to censor
they are afraid of what they do not know
beware those who seek constant crowds for
they are nothing alone
beware the average man the average woman
beware their love, their love is average
seeks average

but there is genius in their hatred
there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding solitude
they will attempt to destroy anything
that differs from their own
not being able to create art
they will not understand art
they will consider their failure as creators
only as a failure of the world
not being able to love fully
they will believe your love incomplete
and then they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect

like a shining diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock

their finest art

I was just in a deep discussion about Bukowski for an hour or so in a bar tonight, and I believe I spoke glowingly enough about him that the girl who I was digging on who didn't know who he was might actually go out and check him out. Yes!

Then I came home and remembered this thread. True poetry here...

Don't you agree?

Yes, though I get a jolt when I see Cav's posts.

True. When I read through this thread again, I got that same jolt.

But of course, nobody gives a f*ck about poetry on this site, much less such a raunchy dark poet like Charlie, so here this great thread about the great Bukowski sits, waiting for someone to appreciate it, and maybe post a little snippet from one of the great Bukowsi pieces...

Here you go. I don't care if anyone else gives a f*ck about him. Here's a picture of the mad genius himself, in his element.

Yo I just saw this thread...

I've read "Last Night of the Earth Poems."

I really dig his poems if I accept them more as short little narratives. I haven't read any of his fiction though my buddy's copy of "Ham on Rye" is waiting on the shelf for me to read.

Another friend down the street is way into Bukowski. He introduced me to this other author named JOHN FANTE, who you HAVE to read. Read his book "Ask the Dust." It's less than 200 pages and will take you just a few sittings to complete.

Bukowski writes the intro to this book (it's Black Sparrow press, same press that puts out Bukowski's books now with the funky-feeling covers), and details Fante's influence. He writes about spending all day in the library with homeless people, reading pretty much everything, tossing some things aside with disgust. When he picked up Fante, he sort had a revelation about what writing is supposed to be.

The book had a similar effect on me.

Im proud to say that Bukowski's books are an essential element in my family's bookshelves. "Women", "Looking for a Women", and "The F*cking Machine" have spent many days and - specially - many nights in my drawer. I've never read one of his poems though, but the ones posted in this thread are magnificient.

Recently I've picked up the task of downloading some of his interviews and public readings, its interesting to hear HIM reading the stuff.

Oh, those are the names of the books in spanish haha, they might not match the originals