CHARLES BUKOWSKI - Hostage
Everybody I admire dies. I admired Lester Bangs; he died. I admired Hunter S. Thompson; he died. I admired Charles Bukowski... well, you get the picture. Maybe I should turn my admiration towards Oprah and Dr. Phil, hmm? Fortunately, none of Hank's novels or books of poetry made it onto Oprah's "Must-Read" list; sad he didn't get to tangle with that chrome-pated snake-oil salesman, though-- I'm pretty much positive Hank coulda taught that pathetic old fraud a thing or three about human nature.
Bukowski's reality was/is a little too much for most folks to take. His words captured the true essence of being-- shitting, pissing, fucking, puking, failing, loving even-- with unblinking, unedited honesty. Much is made of his nigh-heroic conspicuous consumption-- in fact, I've seen plenty of wannabe scribes put themselves on the Bukowski Diet of booze & squalor, never realizing that Buk's wit and wisdom didn't come from the bottom of a bottle (well... not entirely); this is a guy who came home from working all day as a postman, and then spent the entire night concentrating on The Work. He considered it a failure to not have completed at least 25 pages of The Work.
Since almost nobody puts eyeballs to books anymore, here's an opportunity to listen to a reading by one of America's Last Great Writers (yes, I realize he was born in Germany). Recorded live at The Sweetwater, Redondo Beach, CA, April 1980, this performance will embarrass you, make you laugh, make you hate... the whole damn gamut of emotions.
And that voice! The closest comparison I can come up with is Snagglepuss. Down-n-out-with-yer-chest-puffed-out... even!
Before you proceed to the comments, may I recommend this, this or even this?
http://lix.in/f514d92a
ReplyDeletepw = sln2008
Nice to see some Bukowski, I never truly appreciated his poetry 'til I heard it read by the man himself. "Don't try."
ReplyDeleteyou're funny and noble.....love is a dog from hell always seemed like the perfect book to use to teach adults to read to me....
ReplyDelete...unlike the Spending Loud Night crew i have little patience for all things Hank...maybe if i was in highschool or lived in the affluent suburbs i might find this amusing but from where i am right now this is as banal as it gets...in a age where truth is getting harder to figure out, poems about wallowing in shit piss vomit burps and uninteresting observations somehow lack relevance...i am not saying Hank didn't walk what he talked but that was his choice....but he became famous so i guess thats entertainment folks...
ReplyDelete[...] bookmarks tagged conspicuous A Toast to Hank saved by 5 others JLWilliamsOne bookmarked on 01/19/08 | [...]
ReplyDeleteI try to read one Bukowski selection a year. I mean, the guy has had something like 52 books published and an even more recent posthumous collection. On a slow diet of Bukowski, like that I have prescribed for myself, one could conceivably live one's life out without reading every word of his that made it into print.
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