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117th out of 725 books
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456 voters
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Love is a Dog from Hell
Poems rising from and returning to Bukowski's personal experiences reflect people, objects, places, and events of the external world, and reflects on them, on their way out and back.
Paperback, First Ecco edition, 312 pages
Published
May 31st 2002
by Ecco (An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)
(first published January 1st 1977)
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An Almost Made Up Poem
I see you drinking at a fountain with tiny
blue hands, no, your hands are not tiny
they are small, and the fountain is in France
where you wrote me that last letter and
I answered and never heard from you again.
you used to write insane poems about
ANGELS AND GOD, all in upper case, and you
knew famous artists and most of them
were your lovers, and I wrote back, it’ all right,
go ahead, enter their lives, I’ not...more
Bukowski has so many books of poetry that it almost staggers the imagination; if one were to rank them in over-all quality, i would have to say this is in his top five. But with Bukowski that is really leaving out a lot of books; he has over forty just of poetry alone! But getting back to the book at hand, this is definitely one of his best. Written as his early to mid 1970s underground cult hero/legend status was firmly rising to a peak, this collection shows him to be as much the sensitive suf...more
Don't tell me I don't get it. I know I probably don't. But Jesus Christ, if I have to read one more poem about the women he's screwed and the women who've screwed him, I'm going to start writing my own collection of poetry about the cereal I eat in the morning and try to publish that.
Granted, I am not a great lover of poetry. And I have very low tolerance for people who want to eloquently bemoan about their shitty lives without seemingly caring to get their shit together. Honestly, I...more
Granted, I am not a great lover of poetry. And I have very low tolerance for people who want to eloquently bemoan about their shitty lives without seemingly caring to get their shit together. Honestly, I...more
Ryan Milbrath
added it
Bukowski’s poetry brings to mind the free verse ranting found on scrawled on bathroom stalls with permanent marker. Love is a Dog from Hell provides a collection of his finest prose on woman, every-day living, drinking, and of – of course – love (in its most low and basest forms).
I believe Bukowski is one of the greatest poets in the modern world of poetry not because of his style, topics, rhyme schemes, or his connection with the beats. I believe he is one of the best because of his honesty...more
I believe Bukowski is one of the greatest poets in the modern world of poetry not because of his style, topics, rhyme schemes, or his connection with the beats. I believe he is one of the best because of his honesty...more
view 1 comment
Bukowski. Here's a poem.
I don’t know how many bottles of beer
I have consumed while waiting for things
to get better
I don’t know how much wine and whisky
and beer
mostly beer
I have consumed after
splits with women—
waiting for the phone to ring
waiting for the sound of footsteps,
and the phone to ring
waiting for the sounds of footsteps,
and the phone never rings
until much later
and the foots...more
I don’t know how many bottles of beer
I have consumed while waiting for things
to get better
I don’t know how much wine and whisky
and beer
mostly beer
I have consumed after
splits with women—
waiting for the phone to ring
waiting for the sound of footsteps,
and the phone to ring
waiting for the sounds of footsteps,
and the phone never rings
until much later
and the foots...more
So what if people think he was the cliche alcoholic writer. I love Bukowski's writing, particularly his poems. His writing is grumpy and sometimes a bit depressing, but in an interesting and kind of enjoyable way. And though he may have been a womanizer he was definitely not a misogynist, he loved women, a lot.
I don’t know how many bottles of beer
I have consumed while waiting for things
to get better
I don’t know how much wine and whisky
and beer
mostl...more
I don’t know how many bottles of beer
I have consumed while waiting for things
to get better
I don’t know how much wine and whisky
and beer
mostl...more
Уличен поет. Най-големия американски уличен поет. Неприлично, разговорно, сякаш напълно спонтанно слово. Просто враг на неискреността. Всичко това естествено е похват. И когато стихотворенията са толкова много, хватката става видима. Но Буковски няма как да не ни хване с тази разголеност. Няма как.
За последната му стихосбирка Адам Кирш писа в “Ню Йоркър”, че е, както винаги, един вид cri de coeur (вик на сърцето). А също и че привлекателността на неговата поезия идва от комбинацията на обе...more
За последната му стихосбирка Адам Кирш писа в “Ню Йоркър”, че е, както винаги, един вид cri de coeur (вик на сърцето). А също и че привлекателността на неговата поезия идва от комбинацията на обе...more
Reading Bukowski sometimes feels as I imagine licking the bottom of an ashtray would taste like, only for some maybe not so hard to understand reason I can't bring myself to want to lick an ashtray, bottom or top. Who else could write like he does and I like it?
Bukowski has strange sweet spots buried deep inside graphic verse that pull. It's writing so raw, descriptive, and visceral that I'm glad to read his account instead of living it myself. Images come to mind of my uncle, who...more
Bukowski has strange sweet spots buried deep inside graphic verse that pull. It's writing so raw, descriptive, and visceral that I'm glad to read his account instead of living it myself. Images come to mind of my uncle, who...more
I first found Charles Bukowski when searching for a book for Sarah for Christmas one year. I stumbled upon "Ham On Rye" (in fact I think I mention this same thing in my review of that book), and wondered how I never knew of him sooner. He's raw, and honest, almost embarrassingly so. I was very pleased to hear Sean Penn refer to Mr. Bukowski during an interview (The Actor's Studio I believe it was) and Sean's face just came alive when referring to Bukowski. I decided I needed to m...more
Bukowski is one of those poets you can show to people who swear up & down that poetry is all rhyming & flowers. Even if you hate Bukowski, you must admit that he's an original. I love Bukowski. His poems are a perfect break from the 'real' world. They're brutally honest & lovely in their grotesqueness. This collection is wonderful. Sure it isn't for the faint of heart, but Bukowski really does prove that poetry comes in all shapes & sizes.
I just happened on this one in a bookstore and sat down to read a bit. Whoa! As a junior in high school I was just getting into literature that was off the beaten path, and this just about blew my mind. I ended up writing my junior year literary analysis paper on his prose. It was called "Banality and Booze: Charles Bukowski Doesn't Like You." I was lucky to find him.
"Don't bring a whore, I'll only fall in love with her."
The verse appears more than once in Charles Bukowski's set of poems, "Love is a Dog From Hell." The majority of the poems are devoted to the various muses of his life, lovers and exes, some of them overlapping. Each one of these women is studied, catalogued, screwed, licked, tickled, and nailed into this shadowbox of poems like spread eagled Monarch specimens, not a single detail or secret concealed.
T...more
The verse appears more than once in Charles Bukowski's set of poems, "Love is a Dog From Hell." The majority of the poems are devoted to the various muses of his life, lovers and exes, some of them overlapping. Each one of these women is studied, catalogued, screwed, licked, tickled, and nailed into this shadowbox of poems like spread eagled Monarch specimens, not a single detail or secret concealed.
T...more
One of the better Bukowski poetry books, almost as good as The Last Night of the Earth Poems, and a good companion to his novel Women. Whenever Bukowski writes about his father ("My Old Man") or Jane ("Some Picnic") its usually worth reading, and possibly "immortal" (as Bukowski would say). The most ironic poem in the book was "An Unkind Poem" where Bukowski criticizes other poets, and I couldn't help thinking he was unknowingly describing himself through ...more
Love for this romantic man was when the love of his life packed her bags and left him for eternity, love was shouting and yelling and throwing things to cause pain. In Love Is A Dog From Hell, underlies the secret of a man who knew tough love better than any of us could. There was a lot of love, or what he would call love surrounding his entire life. For Bukowski love came in empty bourbon bottle form or a punch in the face and women who would leave his side to never return before he woke up in ...more
I love, love, love Bukowski. And here is why I love him.
"she wore a platinum blonde wig
and her face was rouged and powdered
and she put the lipstick on
making a huge painted mouth
and her neck was wrinkled
but she still had the ass of a young girl
and the legs were good.
she wore blue panties and I took them off
raised her dress, and with the TV flickering
I took her standing up.
as we struggled around the room
(I'm fucking...more
"she wore a platinum blonde wig
and her face was rouged and powdered
and she put the lipstick on
making a huge painted mouth
and her neck was wrinkled
but she still had the ass of a young girl
and the legs were good.
she wore blue panties and I took them off
raised her dress, and with the TV flickering
I took her standing up.
as we struggled around the room
(I'm fucking...more
i bought this book as a birthday present for my first love, when i was still in love with him, before i knew i was in love with him, but long after i should have figured it out. we were apart for the summer, and i used post-it notes to make comments where i thought we could have a discussion. it remains the only bukowski collection i've ever read cover to cover. i admire bukowski in a lot of ways, and then there are things about him that i absolutely can't stand. but the realism in his work is u...more
In the midst of a rough breakup, I started dabbling into poetry; Bukowski being my first endevour. This book holds some of the most painful, joyful, intense, funny, sad, and happy poems I've ever read. In one hand, the book explores the downside of relationships: the pain and suffering and jelousies that we all face while in love. On the other hand, he reminds the reader (rarely throughout the book) that even though life can be a shit-show, there are "lights" and "ways out". ...more
There were a few poems here that I wanted to go back to. They weren't those angry "bitch left" or "I said she'd better leave now" poems. I wrote their titles in an open notepad file without saving. Then my laptop did a post-update reboot without asking properly. Since it was a library book, there'd be some serious effort in all that now. Eh. A part of me feels it's, well... he wrote so many poems, a few are bound to impress, right? Or maybe people are captivated by the lifest...more
'what they want
Vallejo writing about
loneliness while starving to
death;
Van Gogh's ear rejected by a
whore;
Rimbaud running off to Africa
to look for gold and finding
an incurable case of syphilis;
Beethoven gone deaf;
Pound dragged through the streets
in a cage;
Chatterton taking rat poison;
Hemingway's brains dropping into
the orange juice;
Pascal cutting his wrists
in the bathtub;
Arta...more
Vallejo writing about
loneliness while starving to
death;
Van Gogh's ear rejected by a
whore;
Rimbaud running off to Africa
to look for gold and finding
an incurable case of syphilis;
Beethoven gone deaf;
Pound dragged through the streets
in a cage;
Chatterton taking rat poison;
Hemingway's brains dropping into
the orange juice;
Pascal cutting his wrists
in the bathtub;
Arta...more
With a catchy title like that, who wouldn't at least be curious as to the contents of this poetry anthology? Just as I prefer in my fiction, in my poets I intend to enjoy those who celebrate life in unexpected and not so polished ways. Gritty and vivid this compilation exploits anatomy, sexuality, masturbation and other blunt but true to life scenarios to their fullest poetical abilities. You may close the book offended, upset or repulsed, but let's face it, you felt something and that's more ...more
I did not enjoy this collection nearly as much as what I have already read by Bukowski, though this was still well worth my time. I had planned on changing my rating to 3 stars but then I started flipping to the pages I had saved and I am now comfortable with the 4 stars. Once again, when I had finished, the book looked very important and worthy, with so many of my little paper scraps hanging out, noting the pages of poems I did not want to forget.
This collection lacked the fire I f...more
This collection lacked the fire I f...more
"I don't know how many bottles of beer I have consumed," writes Charles Bukowski, "while waiting for things to get better."
He describes his easy love for whores, alcohol, drugs and gambling. He details his loneliness, fear of aging and also his apartment life, all the while keeping his preferences in women front and center. From the poem "Scarlet":
I'm glad when they arrive
and I'm glad when they leave
I'm glad when I hear ...more
He describes his easy love for whores, alcohol, drugs and gambling. He details his loneliness, fear of aging and also his apartment life, all the while keeping his preferences in women front and center. From the poem "Scarlet":
I'm glad when they arrive
and I'm glad when they leave
I'm glad when I hear ...more
i used to enjoy bukowski far more than i do now--i only chose to read this to help in bumping my book count for july up to 20. despite this, he still appeals to me on some level. it's definitely not for the same reasons that i enjoyed reading him when i was in high school--i'm no longer in awe of his explicit masculinities, or the things that are perceived to be masculine, i.e. his overt references to sex and alcohol or even shitting. i've learned that you don't have to be a guy to talk about th...more
THE CRUNCH
there is a loneliness in this world so great
that you can see it in the slow movement of
the hands of a clock.
people so tired
mutilated
either by love or no love.
people just are not good to each other
one on one.
the rich are not good to the rich
the poor are not good to the poor.
we are afraid.
our educational system tells us
that we can all be
big-ass winners.
it...more
there is a loneliness in this world so great
that you can see it in the slow movement of
the hands of a clock.
people so tired
mutilated
either by love or no love.
people just are not good to each other
one on one.
the rich are not good to the rich
the poor are not good to the poor.
we are afraid.
our educational system tells us
that we can all be
big-ass winners.
it...more
I guess the painful truth is that one Bukowski is more or less like any other Bukowski. They (the publishers?) tried to make this one at least seem different by attaching the years in which these poems were written to the title. The question remains: Does he or does he not love women? I have decided that Chuck is a slave to women, and he is a happy slave at that. He is not a slave to one woman, but he labors in the pursuit of the delightful misery that only a woman can provide. No, not a woman, ...more
Love is a Dog From Hell captures Bukowski's considerable talent for capturing a mood and throwing the reader into his world. This is an excellent edition of modern poetry that perfectly captures the degenerated angst of the period. What is particularly striking here is Bukowski's acute awareness of the decay that surrounds him. I thought 'The Worst and the Best' was a strong example:
in the hospitals and jails
it's the worst
in madhouses
it's the worst
in pent...more
in the hospitals and jails
it's the worst
in madhouses
it's the worst
in pent...more
While I'm no fan of Bukowski's prose, you just can't fight with his poetry. It is just that good. Honestly, that more average people don't know this writer is just a shame. He really is America's Poet Laureate (sorry Brautigan fans) since the 1970's.
In this collection, he is at the peak of his powers. Truly amazing and engrossing, every poem is like a polaroid picture of a moment, never truly forgotten if a bit faded.
In this collection, he is at the peak of his powers. Truly amazing and engrossing, every poem is like a polaroid picture of a moment, never truly forgotten if a bit faded.
I might give this 2.5 stars if I could. Simply put I'd say there are a few gems, but in general I wish Bukowski would branch out a little in his poems. I knew going in that most of his poems were about booze, whores, and general unhappiness about his life. Still, there must be a couple of other topics he could cover to some small extent. God knows I'm not one to quibble with such a fantastically successful poet, but that's just my take on the book.
There is no middle ground when it comes to Chuck, he's either your solace or a pissing pot by which all talentless hacks are measured. And, OK, if you win my heart with a giant fuck-you to cockroaches who don't pay the rent, you win my heart for life. Chuck's my buddha, these poems my yoga, and that's just the way this shit shakes down for me.
وحيدا مع العالم أجمع
اللحم يغطي العظام
ثم يضيفون دماغا
وأحيانا روحا.
النساء يضربن
المزهريات عرض الحائط
والرجال يفرطون في السكر
ولا أحد يجد ضالته،
لكنهم يحتفظون جميعا بالأمل
زاحفين من سرير لآخر.
اللحم يبحث عن ما هو أَنْفَسُ من اللحم.
ليس هناك أي خلاص:
كلنا منذورين لقدرٍ فريد.
لا أحد يعثرُ علي مثيله.
امتلأت المدينة بالقاذورات
امتلأت المزابل
امتلأت الملاجئ
امتلأت المستشفيات
امتلأت المقابر
إنها فعلا الأشيا...more
اللحم يغطي العظام
ثم يضيفون دماغا
وأحيانا روحا.
النساء يضربن
المزهريات عرض الحائط
والرجال يفرطون في السكر
ولا أحد يجد ضالته،
لكنهم يحتفظون جميعا بالأمل
زاحفين من سرير لآخر.
اللحم يبحث عن ما هو أَنْفَسُ من اللحم.
ليس هناك أي خلاص:
كلنا منذورين لقدرٍ فريد.
لا أحد يعثرُ علي مثيله.
امتلأت المدينة بالقاذورات
امتلأت المزابل
امتلأت الملاجئ
امتلأت المستشفيات
امتلأت المقابر
إنها فعلا الأشيا...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Bukowski | 5 | 7 | Jan 28, 2012 06:14am |
Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany on August 16, 1920, the only child of an American soldier and a German mother. At the age of three, he came with his family to the United States and grew up in Los Angeles. He attended Los Angeles City College from 1939 to 1941, then left school and moved to New York City to become a writer. His lack of publishing success at this time caused him to g...more
More about Charles Bukowski...
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“I loved you like a man loves a woman he never touches, only writes to, keeps little photographs of.”
—
637 people liked it
“there is a loneliness in this world so great
that you can see it in the slow movement of
the hands of a clock.
people so tired
mutilated
either by love or no love.
people just are not good to each other
one on one.
the rich are not good to the rich
the poor are not good to the poor.
we are afraid.
our educational system tells us
that we can all be
big-ass winners.
it hasn't told us
about the gutters
or the suicides.
or the terror of one person
aching in one place
alone
untouched
unspoken to
watering a plant.”
—
603 people liked it
More quotes…
that you can see it in the slow movement of
the hands of a clock.
people so tired
mutilated
either by love or no love.
people just are not good to each other
one on one.
the rich are not good to the rich
the poor are not good to the poor.
we are afraid.
our educational system tells us
that we can all be
big-ass winners.
it hasn't told us
about the gutters
or the suicides.
or the terror of one person
aching in one place
alone
untouched
unspoken to
watering a plant.”
