Charles Bukowski

2

Comments

  • lalalalaaaaaaaa
    lalalalaaaaaaaa Posts: 2,445
    I'm a fan, yet I can't usually can't stand anyone else who is haha.
  • elvistheking44
    elvistheking44 Posts: 4,547
    One of my favorite's.....Im all grown up now with kids and hardly anytime to read,.....but I always make dinner reservations under the name Henry Chinaski!!!
  • MattCameronKicksButt
    MattCameronKicksButt Posts: 4,317
    elvistheking44 wrote:
    One of my favorite's.....Im all grown up now with kids and hardly anytime to read,.....but I always make dinner reservations under the name Henry Chinaski!!!

    I was sat next to a Mr. Hornby in a pub/restaurant once. I always wondered if it was Nick Hornby? :eek: The pictures I saw looked similar.
  • AllIAm
    AllIAm Posts: 1,309
    wavescamecrashing wrote:
    sounds like that guy likes books on a very superficial level to me.

    I started with a collection of short stories. and never looked back. He is hilarious, heart breaking and gritty, in the most beautiful way.

    One of my fave Bukowski Poems, esp if you think he is a misogynist, think again.






    << prev. poem Poems by Charles Bukowski: 36 / 136 next poem >>


    For Jane: With All the Love I Had, Which Was Not Enough:

    I pick up the skirt,
    I pick up the sparkling beads
    in black,
    this thing that moved once
    around flesh,
    and I call God a liar,
    I say anything that moved
    like that
    or knew
    my name
    could never die
    in the common verity of dying,
    and I pick
    up her lovely
    dress,
    all her loveliness gone,
    and I speak to all the gods,
    Jewish gods, Christ-gods,
    chips of blinking things,
    idols, pills, bread,
    fathoms, risks,
    knowledgeable surrender,
    rats in the gravy of two gone quite mad
    without a chance,
    hummingbird knowledge, hummingbird chance,
    I lean upon this,
    I lean on all of this
    and I know
    her dress upon my arm
    but
    they will not
    give her back to me.

    Charles Bukowski

    wow i adore this! i was never offended by the content of his stories.. i just didnt much care for the stream of conciousness, tell you everything that has happened sort of story. but his books are the kind that i reflect on and love more and more..
  • macgyver06
    macgyver06 Posts: 2,500
    NuclearTreeFrog wrote:
    Don't know his stuff but I'm a fan of the Modest Mouse song.

    Woke up this morning and it seemed to me,
    that every night turns out to be
    A little more like Bukowski.
    And yeah, I know he's a pretty good read.
    But God who'd wanna be?
    God who'd wanna be such an asshole?
    God who'd wanna be?
    God who'd wanna be such an asshole?

    Well we sat on the edge of the river,
    the crowd screamed, "Sacrifice the liver!"
    If God takes life, he's an Indian giver.
    So tell me now why, you'll tell me never.
    Who would wanna be?
    Who would wanna be such a control freak?
    Well who would wanna be?
    Who would wanna be such a control freak?

    Well see what you wanna see. You should see it all.
    Well take what you want from me. You deserve it all.
    Nine times out of ten our hearts just get dissolved.
    Well I want a better place or just a better way to fall.

    But one time out of ten, everything is perfect for us all.
    Well I want a better place or just a better way to fall.
    Here we go!

    If God controls the land and disease,
    keeps a watchful eye on me,
    If he's really so damn mighty,
    my problem is I can't see,
    well who would wanna be?
    Who would wanna be such a control freak?
    Well who would wanna be?
    Who would wanna be such a control freak?

    Evil home stereo, what good songs do you know?
    Evil me, oh yeah I know, what good curves can you throw?

    Well all that icing and all that cake,
    I can't make it to your wedding, but I'm sure I'll be at your wake.
    You were talk, talk, talk, talkin' in circles that day,
    when you get to the point make sure that I'm still awake, OK?

    Went to bed and didn't see
    why every day turns out to be
    a little bit more like Bukowski.
    And yeah, I know he's a pretty good read.
    But God who'd wanna be?
    God who'd wanna be such an asshole?


    this is a great song!
  • stargirl69
    stargirl69 Posts: 6,387
    Read all of Bukowski in my 20's.Liked his short stories and poetry best.Havn't read his stuff for years.I loaned most of my collection to someone I thought was a friend,he buggered off with them and I never got them back.Only replaced a few from what was a full collection.
    “There should be a place where only the things you want to happen, happen”
  • wavescamecrashing
    wavescamecrashing Posts: 440
    ouch, they would be on my 'i'll pop u off if i have three months to live' list.


    Elmer, I didnt mean you, I meant the Lock Stock guy! I always start books and leave them, i'm like a magpie..
  • JOEJOEJOE
    JOEJOEJOE Posts: 10,829
    I read a lot of his stuff in the 90s...it was cool to live a decadent lifestyle surreptitiously thru him!

    I could never see myself living at a flophouse hotel in downtown L.A., but I enjoyed reading about it!

    He spent a lot of time at the L.A. area racetracks...would been cool to see him there!
  • failedpersephone
    failedpersephone Posts: 3,424
    you can't really live in Southern California without reading Bukowski...unless of course you are Bukowski-esque. in which case reading about it would be redundant.

    in other words. I love Poetry, and Poets, and crumbly people.

    and therefore I love Bukowski.
    :)

    lots. :cool:
    IF YOU WANT A PLATE OF MY BEEF SWELLINGTON, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO PAY THE COVERCHARGE.
  • JOEJOEJOE
    JOEJOEJOE Posts: 10,829
    failedpersephone wrote:
    you can't really live in Southern California without reading Bukowski...unless of course you are Bukowski-esque. in which case reading about it would be redundant.

    in other words. I love Poetry, and Poets, and crumbly people.

    and therefore I love Bukowski.
    :)

    lots. :cool:

    have you ever read Jim Carroll?

    He is like the NYC version!
    :)
  • failedpersephone
    failedpersephone Posts: 3,424
    JOEJOEJOE wrote:
    have you ever read Jim Carroll?

    He is like the NYC version!
    :)
    basketball diaries

    also I think I read a poem of his in an anthology that I had, but I don't remember the title.

    maybe it's that he was the NYC version but I didn't feel it in my bones.

    I don't know what else he has...

    can you recommend??
    IF YOU WANT A PLATE OF MY BEEF SWELLINGTON, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO PAY THE COVERCHARGE.
  • failedpersephone
    failedpersephone Posts: 3,424
    Jeremy1012 wrote:
    Bukowski's definitely kind of like that. I would normally say that the idea of a book being for men is silly but for writer's like him and Hemingway, they really are full of macho posturing and I can imagine women, and definitely some men (me for one) who aren't like that, being a bit alienated by them.
    um, Hemingway is a tool and full of shite...

    nothing of value...nothing like Bukowski at all...sorry...I just really really hate Hemingway. :o
    IF YOU WANT A PLATE OF MY BEEF SWELLINGTON, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO PAY THE COVERCHARGE.
  • JOEJOEJOE
    JOEJOEJOE Posts: 10,829
    failedpersephone wrote:
    basketball diaries

    also I think I read a poem of his in an anthology that I had, but I don't remember the title.

    maybe it's that he was the NYC version but I didn't feel it in my bones.

    I don't know what else he has...

    can you recommend??

    Basketballl diaries is his best...I read it when I was 15 and discovering the underbelly of society so it has special meaning!
  • Strangest Tribe
    Strangest Tribe Posts: 2,502
    If you're a crazy fan like I am then check out this movie/documentary.
    You can rent it from Netflix if you're a member.


    http://imdb.com/title/tt0342150/
    the Minions
  • orig_long red
    orig_long red Posts: 2,029
    roll the dice

    if you’re going to try,
    go all the way.
    otherwise, don’t even start.
    if you’re going to try,
    go all the way.
    this could mean losing girlfriends,
    wives, relatives, jobs and
    maybe your mind.
    go all the way.
    it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
    it could mean freezing on a
    park bench.
    it could mean jail,
    it could mean derision,
    mockery,isolation.
    isolation is the gift,
    all the others are a test of your
    endurance,
    of how much you really want to
    do it.
    and you’ll do it
    despite rejection and the worst odds
    and it will be better than
    anything else
    you can imagine.
    if you’re going to try,
    go all the way.
    there is no other feeling like that.
    you will be alone with the gods
    and the nights will flame with
    fire.
    do it, do it, do it.
    do it.
    all the way
    all the way.
    you will ride life straight to
    perfect laughter,
    its the only good fight
    there is.
    Jam out with your clam out.
  • Lukin2Not4You
    Lukin2Not4You Posts: 94
    thought this thread was about Carl Brutananadilewski, maybe ill start one.
  • Buru
    Buru Posts: 8,473
    Count me as one of the fans.
    y la banda de Guille... cuando toca?
  • Byrnzie
    Byrnzie Posts: 21,037
    Bump
  • Dissidentman
    Dissidentman Posts: 15,378
    ALONE WITH EVERYBODY

    the flesh covers the bone
    and they put a mind
    in there and
    sometimes a soul,
    and the women break
    vases against the walls
    and the men drink too
    much
    and nobody finds the
    one
    but keep
    looking
    crawling in and out
    of beds.
    flesh covers
    the bone and the
    flesh searches
    for more than
    flesh.

    there's no chance
    at all:
    we are all trapped
    by a singular
    fate.

    nobody ever finds
    the one.

    the city dumps fill
    the junkyards fill
    the madhouses fill
    the hospitals fill
    the graveyards fill

    nothing else
    fills.


    Charles Bukowski
  • Pepe Silvia
    Pepe Silvia Posts: 3,758
    big fan

    did you like either of the movies based on him? i liked Factotum better than Bar Fly
    don't compete; coexist

    what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?

    "I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama

    when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
    i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'

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