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I never read a biography of Buk... Not sure I want to. I mean, you can know too much, can't ya? Why shatter this nice image I have of him in my mind even if I know it's a fiction? It's not like I'm a scholar trying to get at the "real" Bukowski or something. I'm just a guy who likes how he puts...

Saw Uncut Gems finally... It was much better than I thought it would be. It is intense -- in the sense that the scenes never seem to let up, it's an anxiety-filled ride, with a good ending. Not really violent or bloody or anything like that... the cast is great -- even the bit players like the...

I'm going to guess and say I am in the minority in that I came to "discover" Bukowski fairly late.... I was in my early 30s. I'm almost 50 now. And I still love his stuff.

You got it buddy.... There is an old term for betting against what the public thinks is the best bet -- "copper the public" -- see Roger Bacon's classic book Secrets of Professional Turf Betting. (Yes, I used to play the ponies now and then... but just for kicks. The only gambling I do now is...

No, the take is what the track "takes" off the bets -- their cut, i.e., if you bet $2, the track gets 30 cents (15%) for itself and the rest ($1.70) goes back in the pool with everyone else's bets. So, that's why he says if you bet 9 times that's $2.70 you have to win just break-even, or 135% of...

Shoot even his early books are not entirely untouched... for example in Mockingbird there is a poem titled "get the nose." The manuscript differs from the published version in 2 places: The addition of "I said" on line 12... and the removal of the last 2 lines of the poem: "kill him, he makes...

Coming in July... Bukowski, A Life: The Centennial Edition by Neeli Cherkovski via @amazon

Reading this makes me pine for the rest of the Back to the Machine Gun series (stuck at vol 3 of a planned 8) but there are plenty of manuscripts on this site to hunt down poems, plus the many books published when he was alive...

I don't remember, oddly enough, given how much I like him... His work grew on me - it was a slow burn, like charcoal. I started with Burning in Water one summer at Ocean City on vacation... c. 2005. I loved it... but I didn't go out right away and buy more stuff. It took some time... and then...

Haha -- great response!

A little rough on Bukowski, but thought it worth sharing... Thirst Trap A sober look at Charles Bukowski's alcoholism. BY JASON DIAMOND https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/150621/thirst-trap

Great little essay... thanks for posting!

What? The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way: On Writers and Writing Paperback – May 15, 2018 by Charles Bukowski (Author)

This one....

Tastes can change. I remember I used to love Henry Miller and Kurt Vonnegut, but it's been a long time since I've given either any thought. But then there are some writers that, for whatever reason, I never lose interest in or whose books inspire me on some level... For me Buk is in that...

I'd love to see Bukowski Back to the Machinegun: Manuscripts Vol 4... Man, tell that collective to get it in gear! :-) Seriously, though... wonder when they'll finish their planned 8 volumes... Do they need cash? What's the hold up I wonder? Hmm...

This is a bummer... Perhaps a coincidence, though I doubt it, that Betting the Muse ranks dead last by a long way in poetry collections as voted by members here.

Review of On Cats, from the South China Post: http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1860665/review-cats-gathers-charles-bukowskis-reflections-creatures-he-loved

I think an On Writing collection is fine. There is plenty of precedent for that: Hemingway On Writing, Henry Miller on Writing, etc. But cats? Love? I dunno...

Funny, I just finished - in the last month - Ask the Dust. Re-read it. A good read and you can see how he influenced Buk...

I like all versions... really, it's hard to choose. Each is a little different but still has a lot to offer. Hard choice... Forced to choose, I go with Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame because it was the first book of his I read. Tragedy of the Leaves is a good little poem and I've been...

I got The Bell Tolls... and On Writing on the same day - two new Buk books to read! I was surprised by the small size of The Bell Tolls... (which MJP mentions above) but it's a nice-looking book, opens easy and has a good slick cover.

True... but at least for me, I was one of those who just thought the later Buk was different from the earlier Buk, or that the posthumous Buk was somehow "leftovers." It was only the work of MJP and this forum that explained all for me. I'm thankful.

There is also a letter to Carl Weissner (January 15, 1979) in the On Writing collection (which I'm reading now). Buk writes that, re: Women, "John Martin and I are at it - I claim he has inserted too much of his writing into the novel.... I really feel he has changed my wordage too much...

Haha... I love this forum. Buk would be proud.