What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
by Charles Bukowski
What Matters Most is How ...
Charles Bukowski |
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Read in December, 2007
hunger
I have been hungry many times
but the particular time that I
think of now
was in New York City,
the night was beginning
and I was standing before the
plate glass window of a
restaurant.
and in that window
was a roasted pig,
eyeless,
with an apple in its mouth.
poor damned pig.
poor damned me.
beyond the pig
inside there
were people
sitting at tables
talking, eating, drinking.
I was not one of those people.
I felt a kinship with the pig.
we had been caught in the ...more
I have been hungry many times
but the particular time that I
think of now
was in New York City,
the night was beginning
and I was standing before the
plate glass window of a
restaurant.
and in that window
was a roasted pig,
eyeless,
with an apple in its mouth.
poor damned pig.
poor damned me.
beyond the pig
inside there
were people
sitting at tables
talking, eating, drinking.
I was not one of those people.
I felt a kinship with the pig.
we had been caught in the ...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to John by:
Tim Schaferrecommends it for: angry poet types, misanthropes-gone-hopeless romantics, Mark Coleman
This is the first book I've read of Bukowski's poetry, so the good news is I have nothing to compare it to (I did read Ham on Rye a couple years ago, which was inspired much more naseau and self-loathing than this). This collection of poetry, written while Bukowski was in his fifties and published a few years after his death, is as glum and sharp as one would expect. However, the book is not without its tender, even beautiful, parts. Some poems ('this moment') even suggest a very vivid sense of ...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
Blue-Collar Intellectuals, People Who Are Smart and Mad, Poets and fans of Poetry
I think I've got a handle on Bukowski now, on the basics anyway. And I like him, mostly. His poems are at their best when he's talking about his life and feelings, and when he's not afraid to be a little raw-- which is most of the time.
On the downside, the fact that he is clearly the speaker in every single poem is a little bit of a drag. Not bad exactly, but limiting. And I don't really like most of his poems about how hard it is to write poems. They're the equivalent of 24 Hour Comics wher...more
On the downside, the fact that he is clearly the speaker in every single poem is a little bit of a drag. Not bad exactly, but limiting. And I don't really like most of his poems about how hard it is to write poems. They're the equivalent of 24 Hour Comics wher...more
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I love Bukowski's poetry, but it's also easy to hate it. Or to kind of love it and hate it at the same time. Prepare to be depressed and maybe revolted. This book upsets me but also teaches me a lot about common threads and human nature. I like that Bukowski doesn't give me some sort of academic exercise / intellectual self-massage and call it a poem. He's just going to say what he's going to say -- and it's important or it's not -- and you should just shut up and read it or not. I was mov...more
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I'm almost afraid to admit I enjoy Bukowski (sometimes). So much of his work seems to be free-form whining about having the beershits or how women are insane (cry me a river, buddy). But every once in a while he lays it down with something so straight-up sublime that you can't dismiss the guy outright. Like the poem that gives this collection its title.
I also enjoy his "Great Poets Die in Steaming Pots of Shit" sensibility.
I also enjoy his "Great Poets Die in Steaming Pots of Shit" sensibility.
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recommends it for:
human beings
Reading Bukowski is like hanging around drunk in the broke-down, decrepit, sun-drenched underworld of Los Angeles; listening to Mahler and betting your last five dollars on a horse named after a stripper you used to know. But you don't get dirty or hung-over, and the only ill-effect is a new-found empathy for the damned.
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As it stands, this is my second favorite Bukowski collection, but of the five of his that I have, it's one of two I've read the entirety of, so go figure. I want to start reading more poetry - lord knows I've got a ton of it - so, hopefully, once I go through all of his that I own, I can write more comprehensive reviews.
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Okay. So Bukowski is kinda an asshole.
And yet not.
Because no man who is completely self absorbed could love dogs this much. I love him because he loves dogs.
Also my mother LOVES this book.
So good for CB for being a poet when it isn't glamorous and for making my mother laugh.
And yet not.
Because no man who is completely self absorbed could love dogs this much. I love him because he loves dogs.
Also my mother LOVES this book.
So good for CB for being a poet when it isn't glamorous and for making my mother laugh.
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Just an amazing adventure of a book. What made this volume especially affecting for is the knowledge going in that this is a posthumous publication and one comprised of poems he set aside for just that. So his ruminations on age etc. take on a new poignant light.
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Read in January, 2006
There are some great quotes in here. He tells it like it is with a grace that can make you forget to take a breath at times. At first read, you don't expect him to be so eloquent or observant in certain lines and so unabashedly bawdy in others.
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Read in January, 2003
recommends it for:
Overly cheery types.
Chain-smoking, beer-drinking, whore-loving, dogtrack-gambling, fistfighting, unkempt, glass-half-empty kind of guy.
After reading this book, I felt like I needed to brush my teeth.
Loved it.
After reading this book, I felt like I needed to brush my teeth.
Loved it.
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Generally not a big fan of the beat poets. But you cant go wrong with Bukowski. He was a great writer. His documentary videos are really good; The Bukowski Tapes, Born Into This.
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Read in January, 2007
Better known for, race tracks, whores and drinking, the later poems are actually better than his earlier poems. Take a look to see Bukowski writing about old age and his cats.
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too much
too little
or too late
too fat
too thin
or too bad
laughter or
tears
or immaculate
unconcern...
-from "the crunch (2)"
'nuff said
too little
or too late
too fat
too thin
or too bad
laughter or
tears
or immaculate
unconcern...
-from "the crunch (2)"
'nuff said
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Reading this book is addicting and amazing. I like to read him while cooking dinner especially aloud. The "Mermaid" poem is fantastic.
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Read in July, 1997
I always come back to this one...bukowski was so much better before he got older and started apologizing for everything.
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recommends it for:
Intelligent people with a healthy sense of irony
My first book of Bukowski found in Powell's City of Books by pure chance. For every wannabe suicide out there.
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I want to get a tattoo of words from this book. I won't tell you which ones, because you might copy me.
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Read in January, 2002
my first bukowski book. "you do it while you're killing flies" is my favorite poem in the book.
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Read in July, 2008
It's almost like my life just isn't in proper order if I'm not reading a Chuck book.
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