Charles Bukowski

I want to hear people talk about Charles Bukowski.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mQ0nHyfLaA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx16UDZTUP8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFnDvMNHeos

I want to add "please" as the sub-heading to the topic title, but I guess it's too late now.

bukowski's great. very honest writing.

Very simple writing/man. Great starting place for teens to get into writing/poetry and hopefully move forward.

  On 5/8/2010 at 8:43 PM, Glass Plate said:

Very simple writing/man. Great starting place for teens to get into writing/poetry and hopefully move forward.

great complisult lol.

  On 5/8/2010 at 8:43 PM, Glass Plate said:

Very simple writing/man. Great starting place for teens to get into writing/poetry and hopefully move forward.

Man I don't agree with this. When I was younger, I thought that the more complex the writing, word-usage, etc., the better, and I just don't think that's true.

As nene said, the honesty and the simplicity speaks so much more, or speaks a truth, as opposed to the obscure for the sake of the obscure, or the obscure for the sake of hiding what is at its core nothing, or little...

Have you read Ham on Rye? The style may be simple and easy to read, but it's easily one of the best books I've read in my life.

Also, this is a man who was deeply well read, probably better read than anyone here, so it wasn't like he was a simple mind, unable to write using complex, ridiculous word choice.

I tried to track down a transcript/written version of two of Bukowski's poems, "A Northern Acquaintance" and "The Solar Mass," that I think can be used to respond directly to what you're saying...

"A Northern Acquaintance" and "The Solar Mass" are on a self-recording by Bukowski entitled (by the manufacturer no doubt) "King of Poets." That and an album called "70 Minutes in Hell" I would insist on anyone listening to who either likes Bukowski or is curious about him.

A fan of his novels, not so much for his poetry, spare his later poetry as he slowly fell apart.

My first experience with Bukowski was Post Office which ended being the first book I ever read that I took seriously way back in 8th grade. I spotted it at Barns and Noble as I was reading a video game magazine, read the first page and never knew books were written like that.

At first, my naive little mind, only appreciated it for his vulgar word choice but as I aged I really began to appreciate Buk for his simple outlook on life and for much of what Carthief explained.

I sampled my brother playing guitar about 3 years ago and I made this song for him, it has the blue bird sample in it that I ripped off a Buk DVD I have:

yeah Simple can be more honest. I believe it's similar to the idea of the Haiku. Lyricism = about being spacial, situational. A more simple scenario that is more literally understood and interpreted directly by the reader. Where as an Epic brings more allusions and more personal intentions. At the same time though with Bukowski's simple minimalism it gets to be rather repetitive and well.. simple. He shows us his idea of life in basically the same terms and means over and over. And yes it's a lot of fun and a lot of people can easily relate. In the end though there's a lot more than can be said about the world than what Bukowski says and it's why I think there are more interesting things to be read. I do not want this to be a "name something better" type contest or something, but Bukowski's writing style is one of the most imitated in the English language for a reason. It's really formulaic and easy. I guess you could say Bukowski is kind of like a dubstep of the literary world? I'm no expert though.

tribute to Bukowski or parody?

I fuck your soul

as it lays dying

on the cold hard

floor of the gym,

Stinking of sweat

and urine-stained

old socks, you're

a glimmer in the

side of reality's

torso, bleeding

and yelling, even

while a bag of

bones and flesh

is all that

remains.

Your soul was always

the loudest damn thing

about you and I know,

because I fuck it.

rip Bukowski

there is something odd about reading his stuff... that he is writing about himself when he was younger, from his perspective at that time, but something in the writing implies some hindsight... Like the character as a narrator doesn't express any feeling about something, but how bluntly it is written suggests he felt different about it when writing it. that doesnt make much sense, sorry

  On 5/9/2010 at 12:36 AM, Fred McGriff said:

A+

  On 5/8/2010 at 11:20 PM, goffer said:

I sampled my brother playing guitar about 3 years ago and I made this song for him, it has the blue bird sample in it that I ripped off a Buk DVD I have:

http://beardscratch.com/downloads/theres_a_bluebird_in_my_heart.mp3

I love the track you made there. Just nice pacing, nice to listen to.

He's pretty great and Post Office was pretty fucking good and spot on, I worked in the postal system for a while and can testify, he nailed the feeling of institutionalised dullness you will find in one perfectly.

complexity can obscure some great writing. I doubt you get high schoolers reading much <insert complex postmodern literary writer here> but it would be great if they could. They would more than likely touch on a few similar themes as Bukowski too if you stop and consider it?

I'm no expert on epics but I suspect in many cases they are a contrived and roundabout way of exploring similar ideas (if epic means something like Ulysses for example).

Worst thing is probably that Bukowski appeals to "fucking hipsters" who probably mostly dig on the fact that he drank and fucked a lot, and miss the rest.

internet messageboard. serious stuff.

On writing

I wrote a short story from the viewpoint of a rapist who raped a little girl. So people accused me. I was interviewed. They’d say, “You like to rape little girls?” I said, “Of course not. I’m photographing life.” I’ve gotten in trouble with a lot of my shit. On the other hand, trouble sells some books. But, bottom line, when I write, it’s for me. (He draws a deep drag off his cigarette.) It’s like this. The “drag” is for me, the ash is for the tray… that’s publication.

I never write in the daytime. It’s like running through the shopping mall with your clothes off. Everybody can see you. At night… that’s when you pull the tricks… magic.

On fame

It’s a destructor. It’s the whore, the bitch, the destructor of all time. I’ve got it the sweetest because I’m famous in Europe and unknown here. I’m one of the most fortunate men around. I’m a lucky dog. Fame is really terrible. It is a measure on a scale of the common denominator, minds working on a low level. It’s worthless. A select audience is much better.

On loneliness

I’ve never been lonely. I’ve been in a room – I’ve felt suicidal. I’ve been depressed. I’ve felt awful – awful beyond all – but I never felt that one other person could enter that room and cure what was bothering me… or that any number of people could enter that room. In other words, loneliness is something I’ve never been bothered with because I’ve always had this terrible itch for solitude. It’s being at a party, or at a stadium full of people cheering for something, that I might feel loneliness. I’ll quote Ibsen, “The strongest men are the most alone.” I’ve never thought, “Well, some beautiful blonde will come in here and give me a fuck-job, rub my balls, and I’ll feel good.” No, that won’t help. You know the typical crowd, “Wow, it’s Friday night, what are you going to do? Just sit there?” Well, yeah. Because there’s nothing out there. It’s stupidity. Stupid people mingling with stupid people. Let them stupidify themselves. I’ve never been bothered with the need to rush out into the night. I hid in bars, because I didn’t want to hide in factories. That’s all. Sorry for all the millions, but I’ve never been lonely. I like myself. I’m the best form of entertainment I have. Let’s drink more wine!

On beauty

There is no such thing as beauty, especially in the human face… what we call the physiognomy. It’s all a mathematical and imagined alignment of features. Like, if the nose doesn’t stick out too much, the sides are in fashion, if the earlobes aren’t too large, if the hair is long… It’s kind of a mirage of generalization. People think of certain faces as beautiful, but, truly, in the final measure, they are not. It’s a mathematical equation of zero. “True beauty” comes, of course, of character. Not through how the eyebrows are shaped. So many women that I’m told are beautiful… hell, it’s like looking into a soup bowl.

On ugliness

There’s no such thing as ugliness. There is a thing called deformity, but outward “ugliness” does not exist… I have spoken.

On bravery

Most so-called brave people lack imagination. As though they can’t conceive of what would happen if something went wrong. The truly brave overcome their imagination and do what they have to do.

On faith

Faith is all right for those who have it. Just don’t load it on me. I have more faith in my plumber than I do in the eternal being. Plumbers do a good job. They keep the shit flowing.

On conventional morality

There may not be a hell, but those who judge may create one. I think people are over-taught. They are over-taught everything. You have to find out by what happens to you, how you will react. I’ll have to use a strange term here… “good.” I don’t know where it comes from, but I feel that there’s an ultimate strain of goodness born in each of us. I don’t believe in God, but I believe in this “goodness” like a tube running through our bodies. It can be nurtured. It’s always magic, when on a freeway packed with traffic, a stranger makes room for you to change lanes… it gives you hope.

On being interviewed

It’s almost like being caught in the corner. It’s embarrassing. So, I don’t always tell the total truth. I like to play around and jest a bit, so I do give out some misinformation just for the sake of entertainment and bullshit. So if you want to know about me, never read an interview. Ignore this one.

^^^nice, gary