Amphora 8 1972

[David]

 

[Johannes]

Very cool poems by Bukowski, rather crappy poem by Paul Foreman :D

Thanks a lot, David!

 

[mjp]

Can I assume from this post that a title listed in the database for Amphora - British Columbia: The Coast - is not Bukowski?

And that "pain is a flower" is some crap by someone else?

 

[capt.co]

'British Columbia' is not by Bukowski.
'Pain is a flower' is, it was collected as
'my garden' in what matters most...

 

[mjp]

'Pain is a flower' is, it was collected as
'my garden' in what matters most...

Ouch.

Though I see it was "improved" in What Matters Most. I don't think there's one unmolested poem in that entire book.

 

[David]

It's puzzling that there is a line on the page and then "pain is a flower" begins at the right side of the page. Either it is part of the poem which comes before--which seems probably unlikely---or is a separate poem but with no title or is the title "pain is a flower" and if it is a new poem, why is it positioned at the right side of the page or the editor just screwed up? Thanks Capt. Co for the information on the "collected version":

my garden

in the sun and in the rain
and in the day and in the night

pain is a flower
pain is flowers

blooming all the time.

The lines have been scrambled.

 

[mjp]

"Would you like your crap scrambled or over easy?"
"I don't know, does scrambled crap taste better?"
"No, it still tastes like crap."
"What about hard boiled?"
"Still crap."
"Sunny side up?"
"Crap."
"Hmm. Maybe I'll just have the french toast..."

 

[capt.co]

'all the sacred christs...' was collected as 'now'
in burning in water drowning in flame.
minor changes but nothing serious.
guess he had to 'ok' them. maybe he even got
to do them!

 

[Johannes]

Either it is part of the poem which comes before--which seems probably unlikely---or is a separate poem but with no title or is the title "pain is a flower"...

I think I grow tensions
like flowers
in a wood where
nobody goes.

Each wound is perfect,
encloses itself in a tiny
imperceptible blossom,
making pain.

Pain is a flower like that one,
like this one,
like that one,
like this one.

— Robert Creeley, The Flower

 

[zobraks]

'all the sacred christs...' was collected as 'now'
in burning in water drowning in flame.

One more for First appearances, but the majority of these is still uncollected.

 

[mjp]

Since all of the other titles are all caps, I think "pain is a flower" is actually the end of WINTERLOST, and it's just laid out weirdly on the magazine page. Stylistically it fits.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

'all the sacred christs...' was collected as 'now'
in burning in water drowning in flame.

Another beautiful title thrown in the dumpster...

 

[Pogue Mahone]

This is the Sunset Palms Hotel version of Death. The ending is abbreviated and there are a few miner changes. The lines all start with a capital letter and the spacing/pacing between some of the lines seems out of sorts to me. Maybe the editor felt he had the license.