Reading Now #1

Sometimes I managed to push myself to the public library (they have 5 floors of space, and books)...

This one was literally popping out of the library bookshelf. Have to take it.

image by dsnake1 from a scan



Reading Now #1


Book Title : Essential Bukowski
Author     : Selected and Edited by Abel Debritto
Publisher : HarperCollins Publishers
Year        : 2018
Pages       : 225
Genre       : Poetry
ISBN        : 978-0-06-256532-7

It is not an easy task, selecting 95 poems for this book. Bukowski is a prolific writer, with some five thousand poems on record, written over a span of fifty years. In the end it is still a very good selection. Mr. Bukowski says it like it is, unvarnished, all sores and warts. The marginalised people, the cold homes, the wines and winos, the whores, the everyday life one has to go through.

How can we not read "the tragedy of the leaves", a poem of wasted time and wasted lives? Or his great "crucifix in a deathhand"? You will not forget the hilarity in "who in the hell is Tom Jones?" and the poignancy in "The history of a tough motherfucker". "The shoelace" tells you that it is not the big things that get you, but the small trivial stuff.

You would not want to put it down once you start, but it is best to read it slowly, find a cosy corner, get a cold beer, enjoy the poetry, and to ponder about his choice of words, and his (seemingly erratic) line breaks. Yes, truly essential Bukowski.



23/04/2021
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Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ), 2021