Roominghouse Madrigals

Olaf

Olaf

I just recieved my copy of The Roominghouse Madrigals
ir
this morning! I can't wait to get the knife and fork out (my tentacles) and get stuck into it! Hmmmm, BOOKS, *licks lips*....chocolate!

It's his earliest book, right? I can't wait to taste it.

(If I wanted a meal, I'd go to a Resturant...):D

I arrogantly dedicated this thread to recieving my book: but any thoughts on Roominghouse may as well go here: is it his best early collection? What do you think?
 
Brother Schenker

Brother Schenker

Founding member
I honestly was disappointed with Roominghouse. He hadn't hit his stride yet. Was still rather uptight, self conscious. No va-va voom. Wings still wet. But hints of what was to come were certainly present.

I redd it long after I had redd his best stuff.

I remain the golden needle in the haystack.
 
HenryChinaski

HenryChinaski

Founding member
Olaf said:
It's his earliest book, right?
Click to expand...

no i don't believe so. its got lots of early stuff. but, it's not the earliest. i may be wrong but i don't think so.

EDIT: well actually i guess it might be. maybe somebody else is a better authority on this. its a great collection though. one of my favorites.
 
Olaf

Olaf

HenryChinaski, I understand now, the poems are from 1946-66, but the book wasn't made until 1988.

So some of his earliest poems....along with 'the days run away...' which I have a copy of, thank god.

I'm reading through the collection now: it's good, unpolished....reassuring to see him still finding his feet with his style, his voice, his throat, his stomach!

There is hope for us all
...well, mostly for me
;)
 
Rob.

Rob.

That is the book of poems that I am reading now. Some of them do seem a little self conscious. There are some real gems in there. One of my favorites is Genius Of The Crowd.
 
Brother Schenker

Brother Schenker

Founding member
It's definitely worth reading but I can't help comparing it to the brilliance and full force of Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame and The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over The Hills.

I'm reading Mocking Bird Wish Me Luck (1st edition, BS Los Angeles) and it hasn't moved me much. I'm nearly finished with it and it's been fair to middlin at best. But that's okay. They can't all be home runs.

I remain the golden needle...
 
roni

roni

Olaf said:
...the poems are from 1946-66, but the book wasn't made until 1988.
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Right. Most of the poems appeared in little mags and chapbooks.

Brother Schenker said:
... I can't help comparing it to the brilliance and full force of Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame and The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over The Hills.
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Sure, there is some affinity between them. And it's great to take these with you on a really hot summer afternoon when going to a cheap Taco-restaurant, sitting outside, looking at the people, the traffic and reading, drinking ...

Go for:
- It's not who lived here (p.21)
- The Genius of the Crowd (p.31)
- Old Man, Dead in a Room (p.53)
- 86'd (p.139)
- Practice (p.150)
- Everything (p.185)
- As I lay Dying (p.210)
- Eaten by butterflies (p.254)

each one a killer!
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
I like O, We are the outcasts, Poem for my 43 birthday, Breakout, A trick to dull our bleeding and of course Genius of the crowd and Old man dead in a room...
 
Olaf

Olaf

I like the poem: suicide.

really funny ending,
which makes the
whole poem perfect...

plenty more.

I'm trying to find a poem in it
that had the line
'Whitman was the only true American'

I caught that line
while flicking through
but can't fucking
find it now....damn!
 
HiddenFormula

HiddenFormula

Sorry for digging up the past but I've just finished The Roominghouse Madrigals. Holy shit what a wonderful book! My second full-book of Buk poetry after Burning in Water. Poem after poem after poem- what a collection! I really like the writing style in this book. I'll admit I have kinda been stretching it out over the months while as reading other books, which made it a bit of a disjointed reading experience but still I really rate it highly with Burning in Water - I almost favour it but I guess I'll have to re-read the two again.

On a side note I have North no South coming my way in the post. As far as his short story collections I only have 'The Most Beautiful Girl in Town' which I enjoyed, but not so much as his poetry or his novels. Anyway I was just wondering how the two compare?

*SOUTH NO NORTH
*The Most Beautiful Woman in Town

Oh shit my memory is appalling - kill me now:rolleyes:
 
roni

roni

'South of No North' is more 'mature' (to my impression), so you might like it better than the one split-off from the original 'Erections'-volume.


Glad you like these poems.
They are immortal as hell!

( No need to read a book of poetry in one sip or in the given order. Seems to me, you did the right thing: read whenever you feel like it and read whatever seems to appeal to you in the given moment. No pressure. I haven't read about 30% of Hank's collected poems! This is not a test. )
 
HiddenFormula

HiddenFormula

roni said:
'South of No North' is more 'mature' (to my impression), so you might like it better than the one split-off from the original 'Erections'-volume.
Click to expand...
I enjoyed the majority of the stories in some way or another but very few of them really stuck with me after putting it down (of course The Fiend was one of them) His poems and novels have that great punch-to-the-stomach effect. But saying this I am very much looking forward to South of No North. It sounds like a good'n.
 
LickTheStar

LickTheStar

Sad Flower in the Sand
I too still haven't read big chunks of the collected stuff... I've got copies of the last few BSP releases (Last Night of the Earth thru Open All Night) that have been sitting on my shelves for almost a year, mostly un-read... I spent about $200 last January on Abe just grabbing some BSP editions and have been slowly thumbing through them.

I'll read them all eventually. Y'know, some day.
 
Erik

Erik

If u don't know the poetry u don't know Bukowski
Founding member
Here's a tip. Look up the poems in the database on this site. Some of them are among the earliest poems Buk ever published.

But: do it AFTER you've read the book. You might be be surprised.
 
nervas

nervas

more crickets than friends
Well, Roominghouse always reminds me of travelling the East Coast back in 2000, since it was one of the many books I took along with me on a trip. I liked it, and re-read it probably 4-5 times since then.
 
pig ear press

pig ear press

I picked it up with a massive discount, just before Borders went into liquidation last year. It would've been worth the full price, but you can't complain. Well, you can. But I won't.
 
roni

roni

One of the things I always liked about 'Roominghouse' and 'Burning' is, that they have a forword/preface. It would have been beautiful to have this in the other books too.
 
christopher

christopher

I'm about halfway through this and I'm less than impressed. I think this is my least favorite Bukowski poetry so far. I can see that he was laying the groundwork for what would eventually become some great poetry but this stuff just isn't grabbing me. At all. It's all very forgettable, in my opinion. That being said, I still feel it's important to read it.
 
skiroomalum

skiroomalum

Rooming house was the first book of Hank's poetry I read, so it has special meaning for me. As a survey of his early
work and and style, it's invaluable. Plus, it does happen to contain a few of the best poems of the 20th century.
 
zobraks

zobraks

Moderator
Beside being the first full-poetry Buk book I ever read, TRM contains (among many other great poems) one of my all-time favo(u)rites: O, We Are the Outcasts.
It's hilarious.
Summer? I might scrape up
trainfare. got an Indian friend who'd like to meet
you and yours. he swears he's got the biggest
pecker in the state of California.

and guess what?
he writes
POETRY
too!
Click to expand...
:D
 
G

GDPR 4124

Contrary to some of you guys I don't see these early poems as awfully self-conscious or pretentious. They're bit fumbling, sure, here and there insecure, maybe even bad, but almost always filled with the rawness and vigor that time after time makes me return to Buk. As a whole I don't see this collection as the least bit more inconsistent than the others.
roni said:
Go for:
- It's not who lived here (p.21)
- The Genius of the Crowd (p.31)
- Old Man, Dead in a Room (p.53)
- 86'd (p.139)
- Practice (p.150)
- Everything (p.185)
- As I lay Dying (p.210)
- Eaten by butterflies (p.254)

each one a killer!
Click to expand...
To this fine list I'd like to add:

4:30 A.M. (p. 34)
Layover (p. 51)
Death Wants More Death (pp. 92-93)
The Blackbirds Are Rough Today (p. 97)
The Sun Wields Mercy (pp. 158-160)
With Vengeance Like a Tiger Crawls (pp. 177-178)
A Trick to Dull Our Bleeding (pp. 245-246)
Destroying Beauty (p. 256)

(Re-reading these poems, I realised that I wasn't really fair to my emotions in my earlier paragraph. I don't just think that this collection is as good as the others, I think it's amazing and probably better than a whole lot of them.)
 
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Johannes

Johannes

Founding member
I agree with roni, skiroomalum and Ghado: The Roominghouse Madrigals includes some of Bukowskis all-time-great poems that kick everything in the ass which had been done in poetry before, like

The Genius Of The Crowd - pg. 31
An Empire Of Coins - pg. 45
Old Man, Dead In A Room - pg. 53

a lot that are simply very very good in the Bukowskiversum

22,000 Dollars In 3 Months - pg. 13
O, We Are The Outcasts, O We Burn In Wondrous Flame! - pg. 22
Poem For My 43rd Birthday - pg. 30
The Night They Took Whitey - pg. 37
The Japanese Wife - pg. 39
Layover - pg. 51
The Day I Kicked Away A Bankroll - pg. 73
Hello, Willie Shoemaker - pg. 86
Death Wants More Death - pg. 92
The Blackbirds Are Rough Today - pg. 97
Fleg - pg. 107
The Best Way To Get Famous Is To Run Away - pg. 121
Hangover And Sick Leave - pg. 169

... a couple, that represent his "lyrical" early style

I Wait In The White Rain - pg. 65
Horse On Fire - pg. 70
Imbecile Night - pg. 77
The Swans Walk My Brain In April It Rains - pg. 125
A Rat Rises - pg. 165
With Vengeance Like A Tiger Crawls - pg. 177
I Am With The Roots Of Flowers - pg. 236

... some that are simply shit ass funny

Somebody Always Breaking My Dainty Solitude - pg. 204
Friendly Advice To A Lot Of Young Men - pg. 184
Farewell, Foolish Objects - pg. 102
O, We Are The Outcasts, O We Burn In Wondrous Flame! - pg. 22

... and one I could never read through, despite the strong ending:

The Sun Wields Mercy - pg. 158


I love it.
 
Purple Stickpin

Purple Stickpin

Mark me down as someone who holds Roominghouse in high regard. Yes, it has some clunkier work, but some excellent work and a few gems, as has been mentioned. Plus I prefer the more narrative style to the more terse style he used in the late 80s and early 90s.
 
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Andreas

Andreas

Roominghouse? Insightful foreword and a lot of raw and outstanding poems spanning two decades. Let me give you an excerpt I like. It's from Wrong Number (think that one hasn't been mentioned before):

the wall-eyed butcher spits
and flaunts his blade
backed by law, dullness and admiration-
how the girls rejoice in him: he has no doubts,
he has nothing
and it gives him strength
like a bell clanging against the defenseless air...

there is no church for me,
no sanctuary; no God, no love, no roses to rust;
towers are only skeletons of misfit reason,
and the sea waits
as the land waits,
amused and perfect
 
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Pogue Mahone

Pogue Mahone

Officials say drugs may have played a part
I was one of the people who put this book down in other threads by calling it full of "B sides." I was wrong and drunk, which I never quite believe until I'm actually sober. It's a valuable book, even though my tastes live in other decades, including the '90s.
 
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