This poetry-thing is the worst sort of crutch. It weakens a man. And if a man is weak before he writes poetry he becomes, finally, through the strumming of shadows and wailing, he becomes finally what he is- just another fine pink juicy boy doing his god damned job in the frailest and most vomiting way. I also enjoy drinking, writing, eating, being a drifter, a grifter, a con artist, a lover, a fighter, a better, a loser. i like women of all sorts and shapes and sizes.
I'd like to meet:
prostitutes, transvestites, fellow poets, ladies, a good bottle of whiskey.
Music:
Classical Music: Sibelius. Because of the long deep tonality. And a passion that knocks your lights out
Movies:
Bar Fly: You've got to instinct what will suck you dry. Barfly is not a great film, but it kicks along. I've seen it 2 or 3 times, and it always makes me thirsty.
Books:
*Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail, 1960*Longshot Poems for Broke Players, 1962*Run with the Hunted, 1962*It Catches My Heart in Its Hands, 1963*Crucifix in a Deathhand, 1965*Cold Dogs in the Courtyard, 1965*Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts, 1965*All the Assholes in the World and Mine, 1966*At Terror Street and Agony Way, 1968*Poems Written Before Jumping out of an 8 Story Window, 1968*Notes of a Dirty Old Man, 1969*A Bukowski Sampler, 1969*The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills, 1969*Fire Station 1970*Post Office, 1971*Mockingbird Wish Me Luck 1972*Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness, 1972*South of No North, 1973*Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame: Selected Poems 1955-1973, 1974*Factotum, 1975*Love Is a Dog from Hell: Poems 1974-1977, 1977*Women, 1978*Play the Piano Drunk/Like a Percussion Instrument/Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit, 1979*Shakespeare Never Did This, 1979*Dangling in the Tournefortia, 1981*Ham on Rye, 1982*Bring Me Your Love, 1983 ( Robert Crumb, illustrator.*Most Beautiful Woman in Town & Other Stories, 1983*Hot Water Music, 1983*There's No Business, 1984*War All the Time: Poems 1981-1984, 1984*You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense, 1986*The Movie: "Barfly", 1987*The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems, 1946-1966, 1988*Tales of Ordinary Madness*Hollywood, 1989*Septuagenarian Stew: Stories & Poems, 1990*The Last Night of the Earth Poems, 1992*Run With the Hunted: A Charles Bukowski Reader (edited by John Martin), 1993 (audio edition, read by Bukowski)*Screams from the Balcony: Selected Letters 1960-1970, 1993*Pulp, 1994*Living On Luck: Letters Vol. 2 60's - 70's, 1995*Betting on the Muse: Poems & Stories*Bone Palace Ballet: New Poems*The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship, 1998. Robert Crumb, illustrator.*What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through the Fire *Open All Night: New Poems, Oct. 2000. *Night Torn Mad With Footsteps, Sep. 2001.
Heroes:
no hereos... i am my own hero.
