The book? No, it is a collection of Bukowski's early work, and depending on which era of his work you prefer, it may be a masterpiece.
1fsh2fsh is directing you to a specific poem. Bukowski was not what you'd consider real supportive of most young writers.
honestly what do you guys think? give it to me straight.
It's crap.
Let me guess, you are in your 20's, full of angst, you've suffered a bit and discovered that the world is a shithole, but only you realize it, and that tortures you.
I say that not after reading only your poems but thousands of poems written primarily by younger people. Many of us come to those same realizations in our 20's, and we all write it down the same way.
You don't have to be 50 years old to write good poetry, but the poetry of younger people often has a distinctive stink to it. Especially young people who have been infected by Bukowski (before anyone sites all the legendary teenaged geniuses, yes, I am aware of them. How many fingers does it take to count them?).
Bukowski always said that he looked at his work at some point in his 20's and said, "I'm not ready yet," and he took off to go do whatever he did (we're not real clear on what that was yet ;)). Evidence would seem to indicate that he never quit writing completely, but he did realize that something was lacking in his work. His voice. So he pretty much kept working at it until his voice arrived (which may or may not have coincided with a near-death experience). He was lucky, it arrived for him. It will not arrive for most of us.
Stop reading Bukowski and start reading other things. Go do some things you've never done. Plant some crops. Learn to carve marble. Stop writing about bottles and vomit and penis and suicide. See if you have a voice to find.
That goes for all of you punks. ;)
Copying Bukowski, or writing about Bukowski's themes is a dead end.
