sometimes we are given something extra by the gods and we don't know it at the time. I look back now, I look back at that kidand I'm glad it was me, the gods up therelaughing and urging me on, having such a god-damnedgood time about itall,me in the small room, running that pen across the paper,no automobile, no woman, no job, no food, just wine and ink and paper, the door closed, my mind running along theedge of the ceiling,along the edge of thenight sky, I just didn't know any better and I did....

This collection of Bukowski’s poetry is part of a collection of work that he left behind to be published after his death, which actually opens it up to a whole new possibility. Regardless of how much he never gave a shit about what people thought about him, I’m pretty sure that every human being has some level of self-preservation. There’s a natural instinct not to share certain things because you know that it could change the way people look at you. But if you’re leaving poems behind to be publ...

"up all night drinking miller high life convincing myself it doesn't matter"you don't need my words to tell you what tothink. you don'tneed hiseither.but his arebetter.

I didn't really expect to like these poems because, I dunno, womanizing and horse-racing and ampersands aren't really my jam. I also lived in LA for a while and it was gross. And yet, these poems are amazing.

Great! Stupendous! Mind-blowing! Do I need to say anything else? Oh yeah. If you haven't read Bukowski you are not fully alive.

Another Bukowski anthology. His work gets me everytime, there is hardly a collection that doesn't have a ton of poems I can identify with.

This is more of a 4.9 than a 5 star book, but still worthwhile stuff from the much missed Charles Bukowski. For those of you new to Buk, here he is:Think of him as uncomfortably numb to the point where he has to share this with the world -- or at least with his typewriter.I have to be honest here -- this is not Bukowski's best poetry collection. This one gets repetitive and yet scatterbrained at times. This is one of the many poetry collections that came out after Buk died. I would love to know

Published after his death, so always the question of whether inclusion and editing were done with or with out his approval...but no worries, all is quality stuff from the master. And surprisingly, after his usual literary flame-throwing, Bukowski seems slightly uplifting in some of these, which were written around the time of his imminent death from leukemia.

Masterful. Bukowski wields the pen like no other and his words fall in peculiar fashion on the page: slowly at first, then all at once. Reading this collection will not only immerse you in pure poetry - it will make you drown in it.

Felt like the poems were lukewarm. Not a favorite.

I laughed through most of this. Bukowski is a dark, hilarious genius.

Bukowski ile tanışamadım, ama Avi Pardo ile tanışma umuduyla :)

Covering hookers horses and boozing

Personal favorites in no particular order:This is a factTo Jane Cooney Baker, died 1-22-62

I remembered almost 3 years ago, a friend asked why I liked Bukowski so much, while he couldn't even finish reading one Buk's poem. I told him I liked Buk because he presented the world around him as it is. All is not sunny in this reality and that's okay. Most of the times, reality is dirty (just like his genre: dirty realism) but that's totally fine. With a lil bit of humor, we will pass it gracefully. That's how I see his poems.My favourite poem in this collection is Yes, I am. He could be ro...

Some people don't read poetry . . . not a poetry book on their Goodreads review page. But then we can also consider this: on my last review, a poetry book, The Collected Longer Poems of Kenneth Rexroth . . . my review was the third (3rd) review of that book on Goodreads, published far before Bukowski's, while the Bukowski has 21 reviews . . . Is Bukowski more accessible? Followed by . . . whatever that means. I was always a little skeptical of the Bukowski cult, though I have come to appreciate

some of my favorite poems from this fine collection."this is a fact"in the company of foolswe relax uponordinary embankments,enjoy bad food, cheapdrink,mingle with the men andladies fromhell.in the company of foolswe throw days away likepaper napkins.in this companyour music is loud and ourlaughteruntrue.we have nothing to losebut our selves.join us.we are nowalmostthe entireworld.God bless us."stark dead"pretentious pap smeared on sanctified wallsagain and againuntil almost everybody believes i...

"stark dead"pretentious pap smeared on sanctified wallsagain and againuntil almost everybody believes it isviable.affectations of the centuries accepted as Art.beware the textbooks, beware the libraries,beware the galleries,beware the father and the teacher.beware the mother.we are born into a civilization which is stunnedby overwhelming mediocrity.what is placed before us is artifice, anillusion, a lie.the womb has spilled us into a sewer.new gods are needed.new doors must be opened.we have wai...

Bukowski's raw and raunchy poetic ramblings about his drunken, prostitute-filled life on skid row LA is the opposite of what I thought I'd ever like. He tells it like it is and does not candy coat. His repulsive life style is redeemed with his many ode's to his one true love, Jane. For me, one who will hopefully never live the life that Bukowski writes about, I actually enjoy taking a mental romp down those harrowing streets and living for a few poems that dirty life, relishing the feeling that

My favourite one:Stark deadpretentious pap smeared onsanctifiedwallsagain and againuntil almost everybody believes it is viableaffectations of the centuriesacceptedas Art.beware the textbooks, beware the libraries,beware the galleries,beware the mother.we are born into a civilization which is stunned by overwhelmingmediocrity.what is placed before us is artifice,an illusion, a lie.the womb has spilled us into asewer.new gods are needed.new doors must be opened.we have waited so long for so littl...

I was obsessed by reading Bukowski.I want to read more. Sometimes thepoems are not great but it is Buk's tellingof many manly situations in his alternative egoChinski that keeps me reading more. Is it great literture, not really but it is Fun to read yes. This one reminds of all night diners inNorth Jersey especially Tick TOck diner in Clifton. but Charles' location is LA,where the race track and is his mileu. A funny book

This is one of favorite collections by Bukowski, Beer Bottle Blow being one of my favorite poems:She put the gunback into herpurseand walked away downthe streetjust in herpanties.the cops didn't findherthat nightor the next orthe next.where can a woman gobuilt like 33 brick shithousesdressed just in herpanties?

I try to take a Buk book on vacation with me. This one traveled to England and I felt like he was along for the ride. Enough positive words to keep me going, enough negative words to make me know I wasn't the only one dealing with messed up stuff. The last poems are from when he was dying and they are painful to read but the fact he never quit writing amkes me want to write.

These are the poems left behind and for a reason. Though there are glimpses from time to time of a strong metaphor or an amazing story, often the ends fall flat. As much as I love Bukowski, this book would be much better left unpublished.

The best Bukowski there is.

A must read.

Good collection of poems.One of the better

Yeah, I've got nothing. This wasn't so much bad as aggressively mediocre.

Par for the course. Buk got better when he got old, but its the same bit.