New poetry collection: "Storm for the Living and the Dead"

[roni]

as the holy bible teaches us

now this is off-topic, but did you know, that the ancient (and still to-day) jewish scholars find every single letter in the TORA to be holy (as written by God himself), so that they don't even correct obvious errors, when they transcribe it.
They only make a remark on the margin, but leave the text intact.

This cautiousness and behaviour has led to the fact, that all jewish biblical texts, that came upon us through the centuries appear to be authentic (compared with the oldest manuscripts we have, which, to my knowledge, are the Dead Sea scrolls and maybe the Nag Hamadi finds, both [in part] from BC) and true to the original.
No bored secretary or such things with the Jews.

Like religion or not, but this result is one heaven for any scholar of history, cultures, philosophy and theology.
Just on a sidenote.
Now back to the latest BUKOWSKI.

 

[Erik]

Congrats Abel. Look forward to reading it.

Just wondering: Is the title in any way connected to the finishing line of J.Joyce's short story "The Dead?" Also filmed by John Houston.

"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."

 

[mjp]

No bored secretary or such things with the Jews.

I guess only the Christian Scientists have bored secretaries and typists. Which shouldn't really come as a surprise.

Is the title in any way connected to the finishing line of J.Joyce's short story "The Dead?"

"storm for the living and the dead" is the title of one of the poems in the book, from 1993.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

So, today is November 7th; anyone get their grubby mitts on a retail copy yet?

 

[Bukfan]

Congrats, Abel! I´m looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately, it won't be released on English Amazon till 14. December, but then it´ll make a great xmas present for myself. :)

 

[PhillyDave]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155730225221878

found this...

 

[mjp]

Posthumous Charles Bukowski poems are finally 100% dolphin-free

I did a double take at the domain name of that site - mhpbooks.com is only a letter away from mjpbooks.com, home of the "impassioned" (code for "crazy") tragic rape article.




Still, no one will say Martin's name.

 

[zobraks]

Posthumous Charles Bukowski poems are finally 100% dolphin-free

No, they're not, one still remains:

 

[gabilager]

"A fine question, and one that, for now, doesn’t seem to have a clear answer. Why sanitize a beloved, successful, full-time writer after his death? Why not save yourself the trouble (editors, I know you have plenty of trouble) and just let Bukowski be Bukowski (which, in life, people seemed pretty content to do) and sell thousands upon thousands of books as a result?"

cute.

 

[Joseph K]

In case you were curious (and I doubt you were) thanks to links from MJP's article and the PBS links, traffic to my article on posthumous edits has gone up by about 500% (from an admittedly low base). Mainly readers in the US, Canada and Germany.
The word on the posthumous edits is definitely out thanks to MJP, Abel and the posters here.

The page is this: https://alexanderadamsart.wordpress...humously-published-poems-by-charles-bukowski/
Long-term posters have already seen it.

 

[mjp]

 

[d gray]

i wonder if john martin's caught wind at all of this small but growing public awareness.

he's in his late eighties now.

but there's still time to repent...

 

[d gray]

my wife just sent me that pbs article from work so it's getting around.

 

[mjp]

Yeah, it is still going around. Though links to my blog peaked about a week ago.

As for Martin being aware of the article, it doesn't matter. Even if repentance were to come from his corner, it wouldn't change the ugly reality of the situation. So any mea culpa that could potentially come from him would be too little too late.

He's not in control of his legacy any longer, which is fitting, considering the damage he's done to Bukowski's. Now that he's cashed all the checks and exited stage left (shout out to Snagglepuss the [allegedly] queer cougar, not Rush), it's up to history to decide where he stands. In as much as history cares.

On the bright side, at least he can't do any further harm. And he seems to have people in his circle who get off on whispering gossip into his ear, so I'll bet he's well aware of the bold PBS headline, at least.

 

[cirerita]

Here's a litle something I wrote for LitHub:
http://lithub.com/charles-bukowski-wrote-so-fast-his-publisher-couldnt-keep-up/

Other than changing the original title--"Charles Bukowski, that fucking anarchist"--and a couple of minor edits to tone my language down, this piece reflects what I think about Bukowski's submissions.

There's an accompanying piece of sorts that I wrote about the posthumous edits that the Paris Review accepted for publication, but they got cold feet and changed their mind at the very last minute. Apparently, it was not neutral enough. Oh, well...

 

[mjp]

"All Bukowski ever did was flag his favorite poems with a star [*] when sending a new batch to Martin..."

I think we're still getting that wrong. It just doesn't pass the smell test when you look at some of the "starred" manuscripts. I find it hard to believe that some of these were among his "favorite" poems at the time:

https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/di...75-06-22-hayleys_leaving_town.jpg&workid=1413
https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/di...06-22-against_the_window_panes.jpg&workid=490
https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/di...w=poem1975-07-19-airplane_spin.jpg&workid=500
https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/di...ow=poem1975-07-22-the_fathead.jpg&workid=3110
https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/displaymanuscript.php?show=poem1975-07-22-the_edge.jpg&workid=3086
https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/displaymanuscript.php?show=poem1975-07-22-visitor.jpg&workid=3847
https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/di...poem1975-07-22-a_lovely_couple.jpg&workid=329
https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/displaymanuscript.php?show=poem1975-07-26-jones.jpg&workid=1766
https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/di...ow=poem1975-07-30-the_meaning.jpg&workid=4938
https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/di...ow=poem1975-08-31-garter_belt.jpg&workid=1308
https://bukowski.net/manuscripts/di...5-09-06-my_father_and_the_bum.jpg&workid=2061

If you compare those to the "unstarred" manuscripts from the same period of about two months, there is nothing remarkable about the starred poems.

But what do I know. Maybe he wasn't a good judge of his own work. That's not uncommon.

And before anyone points to this, yeah, I've seen that. I'm sure it's legitimate, but since it's presented without context, it just leaves me with more questions than answers. All of the evidence outside of that excerpt seems to contradict what that apparently says (I say "apparently," again, due to lack of context). Which leads me to believe the asterisks could have meant something else.

Anyway, the asterisk/star thing was so short lived and so insignificant, I'm not sure how it ever became such an enduring discussion point.

 

[cirerita]

But what do I know. Maybe he wasn't a good judge of his own work. That's not uncommon.

That's exactly it, I think. I, too, was kind of surprised to see Bukowski was flagging a few poems that were not as good as other poems he was writing at the time.

He did use stars to flag his favorite poems in the mid-1970s. The excerpt above was not the only time he said he used them. Thing is, I think to recall it was Martin's idea, not Bukowski's, and that's probably why Bukowski gave up on that idea pretty soon.

 

[Black Swan]

My copy finally arrived from the UK, which was faster than amazon.ca and not more expensive. I actually like the cover, the paper, the feel of it, even the smell.
It felt great to open a book 100% Bukowski. Prayer for the broken-handed lovers, I was shit, I think of Hemingway, all sumptuous.
Thank you Abel and mjp and all involved.
I remember when I first heard mjp complaining of the rape and the changes. I then realized that the feeling I had when I bought all the posthumous publications was validated. I had thought that Buk had lost something or that I was over his genius.

 

[mjp]

Thank you Abel and mjp and all involved.

I appreciate that, but the book is all Abel, I didn't have anything to do with it.

And yes, it is good to be getting unmolested Bukowski these days. Now if we can only get those Martinized collections fixed, all will be right with the world. Or this little sliver of it, anyway.

 

[Black Swan]

Yes, I know the book is all Abel but the rape was your main obsession.
I actually thought that you were nuts! ;))
the words punch you in the gut! I was just ranting in my flannel pyjamas to a neighbour about it, not knowing if they had read anything by Bukowski.
Now I definitely need a nap.

 

[mjp]

There are still plenty of people who think I'm nuts, don't worry.

But it's good that the problem is (finally) coming to light. The more people who are willing to talk about it, the better.

 

[cirerita]

It felt great to open a book 100% Bukowski. Prayer for the broken-handed lovers, I was shit, I think of Hemingway, all sumptuous.

Glad to see you liked those poems. I think "I was shit" is a good, early poem. When asked about tentative titles for this collection, I suggested "Crayoning the Edges of the World," which is a line off this poem. That was a no-go, though. I also suggested "A Trainride in Hell," and the editors did like that title, but they eventually settled on Storm...

 

[Dr. Benway]

Got the book in my mail today. Looks good!

 

[sarapna]

what do you all make of the new book so far?

looks good though, will definitely be purchasing this one!

 

[Digney in Burnaby]

Picked up a copy about a week and a half ago. Only had to walk ten minutes down to the local mall book store to find a copy. Had some "found" money (I did jury duty so us jurors got a measly stipend for our trouble) so some of it went to the book. Only a third of the way through. Am happy to read new, unfiltered Bukowski again.

 

[Dr. Benway]

I didn't read it yet. In the same mail I received "The bell tolls for no one" and "More notes of a dirty old man". I started with more notes.

 

[Joseph K]

Here is my review of "Storm for the Living and the Dead":
https://alexanderadamsart.wordpress...torm-for-the-living-and-the-dead-book-review/

 

[cirerita]

Riot Material just published their review on Storm. The reviewer calls it "A Day in the Life of Charles Bukowski":
http://www.riotmaterial.com/charles-bukowskis-storm-living-dead/

 

[mjp]

I probably won't live to see it, but maybe one day people will write about Bukowski's work without all the qualifiers and excuses. Without apologizing for finding some kind of unexpected greatness coming from such an unlikely bottom-feeding, puerile, bestial, drunken burlesque clown and excrement flinger.

Well, Bukowski gave them that ammunition, so I guess it shouldn't be surprising that so many reviewers lean on it like a splintery crutch.

 

[cirerita]

A short review via The Washington Independent Review of Books:
http://www.washingtonindependentrev...7-exemplars-poetry-reviews-by-grace-cavalieri

Bukowski was a pedal-to-the-metal poet, writing 45 books, five previously edited posthumously by the intrepid Abel Debritto. Now a sixth — who knew there were this many previously unpublished documents? And this is no disappointment as it’s a rollicking ruthlessly original possessed set of poems. Bukowski writes from the back of the heart. He comes on as a tough criminal in the meadows of poetry; yet, don’t underestimate this grumpy giant. His trained eye, and the width and depth of his experience, says: you’re gonna feel it whether you want to or not. He writes the way he lived — seemingly recklessly and driven by excessive appetites. But how much of this writing is alter ego, and how much autobiography? In truth, Bukowski enjoyed a felicitous long-lasting relationship with Linda Lee Bukowski, who made this collection possible. Nevertheless, he continues to wow the crowd with his epitomized personality and writing of authenticity and swagger. The sweet part of him shows up in his line drawings which are another kind of voice. He was a complex guy. He may be a case study but he’s a fearless writer.

1/2/93 8:43 PM​

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Dear New York Quarterly:​

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I am a native Albino who lives with a mother with a wooden​

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leg and a father who shoots up. I have a parrot, Cagney, who​

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says, “Yankee Doodle Dandy!” each time he excretes, which is​

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4 or 5 times a day. I once saw J.D. Salinger. Enclosed are my​

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Flying Saucer Poems. I have an 18-year old sister with a body​

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like you’ve never seen. Nude photos enclosed. In case my​

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poems are rejected, these photos are to be returned. In case of​

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acceptance, I or my sister can be reached at 642-696-6969.​

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sincerely yours,​

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Byron Keats​