Gambier, Oh! - Targets, 1960

[cirerita]

Gambier, Oh! - Targets 4 - pg. 15 - 1960

Uncollected as of February 2006.

The Targets issues are really hard-to-find. Not many copies were made and collectors pay astronomical sums for them, well over $10,000.

At UCSB they were kept at the vaults, meaning you needed a special permission to see them.

 

[mjp]

Nice. Stuff like this shouldn't be locked away. But I doubt Ecco would be too interested in a collection of early uncollected poems.

Good that they're here, where they can be seen.

 

[cirerita]

I basically uploaded this poem because it's one of those rare examples where B uses unusual terms:
-empyreal
-heteroplastic
-bon mot
-fin-de-siecle


those are very unbukowskian terms...

 

[mjp]

UnBukowskian, yes. I interpreted the poem as a goof on poets who would use those kinds of words...

here we publish reputation...
generalissimos of crap
rhyming garbage

Sounds like a dig to me. And:

Regardless of the nature of our
present-day poetry--
you couldn't pour a better
glass of milk

Is certainly an insult.

Anyway, just my take.

 

[cirerita]

oh, sure. next to the poem, when I originally read it, I jotted this down: "early example where B. criticizes contemporary poetry." that was my take a few years ago, which is yours today!

but B did use latin words and unusual terms here and there. sometimes on purpose, sometimes because he probably felt like using those words. he hadn't simplified his style back then, at least not as much as he would later on.

One of the things I'll elaborate on in the diss. will be -and you'll pardon me the wording here- Bukowski's stylistically conscious approach to poetry.

Let the Man speak:
"The simple word usually gets it better, it seems to carve it deeper into the paper and there is the manner of saying too, the easy roll of words as you get at something or try to get at something. Still, there are odd times when I like to throw in an almost awkward word that somehow becomes not awkward when it gets worked into the sentence. It's rather like a tightener, it makes the sentence jump into the air for a moment. But you must be careful not to overdo it." Reach for the Sun, 237. [Bold type mine]

He used to do this a lot, especially in the early days. There are countless examples, sometimes even in the titles, like the Cacoethes Scribendi short-story, etc.

 

[Erik]

The simple word usually gets it better, it seems to carve it deeper into the paper [...]

The word "carve" made me think of this quote from "Beerspit Night & Cursing":

"Part of the secret is in laying down the word. The word must be put down on the page so that it is drilled down there, screwed-down, fucked-down, so that it will not brush away."(Moore: 278)

And when it comes to "fancy" words: I like "Beerspit" because its has a lot of letters where Buk uses "unbukowskian" words. Its one of the few books that show that he really worked his ass off to accomplish that simple line of his. All to many readers take this for granted. Martinelli is one of th few ppl he let himself become vaguely "artsy" with... probably because of her connection to Ezra.

Its also nice to read a collection of letters all to one person. You can see Buk adapting his style to Martinelli here. He even sends cooking recipes (use oregano with eggs!). Put that in the Bukmyth!

 

[HenryChinaski]

I havent read Beerspit Night...hopefully I'll get ahold of that this week. I hear good things.

 

[cirerita]

be warned: it's not an easy reading.

 

[mjp]

Thanks to Martinelli's "beat" writing style. About 30 pages into the book I found myself skipping her letters completely. Makes for a one-sided read, but I couldn't take her anymore.

Interestingly though, she did give Bukowski a lot of shit and called him on it when he was being a bit phony or over-dramatic.

I still prefer the other letters books.