New Poems

by Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski was one of America's best-known writers and one of its most influential and imitated poets. Although he published over 45 books of poetry, hundreds of his poems were kept by him and his publisher for posthumous publication, This is the first collection of these unique poems.

Genres: Poetry, American

176 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2003

About the author

Henry Charles Bukowski (born as Heinrich Karl Bukowski) was a German-born American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles.It is marked by an emphasis on the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women and the drudgery of work. Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels, eventually publishing over sixty books

Charles Bukowski was 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 give up writing in 1946 and spurred a ten-year stint of heavy drinking. After he developed a bleeding ulcer, he decided to take up writing again. He worked a wide range of jobs to support his writing, including dishwasher, truck driver and loader, mail carrier, guard, gas station attendant, stock boy, warehouse worker, shipping clerk, post office clerk, parking lot attendant, Red Cross orderly, and elevator operator. He also worked in a dog biscuit factory, a slaughterhouse, a cake and cookie factory, and he hung posters in New York City subways.

Bukowski published his first story when he was twenty-four and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. His first book of poetry was published in 1959; he went on to publish more than forty-five books of poetry and prose, including Pulp (1994), Screams from the Balcony (1993), and The Last Night of the Earth Poems (1992).

He died of leukemia in San Pedro on March 9, 1994.

Reviews

[Edita · Rating 2 out of 5]

the most terrible thing about life
is finding it gone.

[Peycho Kanev]

EVIDENCE

whores and great poets should
avoid one another:
their professions are dangerously
similar:
from the Roman Empire to our
Atomic Age
there have been about an equal
number of whores and
poets
with the authorities continually
trying to outlaw
the former
and ignore the latter
—which tells you
how dangerous
poetry
really
is.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

magnificent . bukowski makes me want to be a writer . a real one

[Nadia Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
naughty shel silverstein??

[Bradford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Bukowski's poetry and this volume is no exception but I do have one complaint! A lot, and I mean almost all, if not actually all, of them are reproduced elsewhere. Most appear in the, much better in my opinion, collection 'Sifting through the madness"...

[The Book Slayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Bukowski is good, he's GOOD. There were a lot of rambly poems in this collection but also a couple of truly great ones. Looking forward to reading more of his work.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

bukowski deserves both a punch and a hug

[Georgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I wasn’t convinced, but the more I read the more I realised that these poems aren’t so much poetic as vivid vignettes of life - every one a short story. I got sucked into each glimpse of world in a way I didn’t expect.

Unblinking Grief is the best poem in there, in my opinion and A Sickness? reminded me of Carol Ann Duffy’s Beautiful from Feminine Gospels.

Of course, the language can be troubling at times, and that was quite jarring.

[Distorted Memories (Sunny) · Rating 4 out of 5]

i had first abandoned it after reading half of it due to no time in life. But this last week I picked it up and finished it. This was a new kind of poetic form I got to read unlike what I am used to reading. (Modern poetry). Still even though I vaguely remember the starting of the book as it had been quite a while back, I could say, it was nice heart warming and easy to read.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think anyone can say with a straight face that Bukowski writes Good Poetry and I rolled my eyes and groaned more than once at his deliberate scatology, but I do find it compelling - reading poems to my partner and a friend. I enjoyed it and wanted to come back, which is more than I can say about a lot of other poets

[Rohan Mahajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving Thanks is now my favorite poem!

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay. I had read this book before and didn't write a review on it. Bad me, I know. And actually it is a bad me because although the poetry is excellent and reflexive of his later works, I continued to have the haunting feeling I had read some of them somewhere before. Although there are many excellent poems, here is a list of some of the ones that were outstanding: What can I do?, About Competition, The Joke is on the Sun, A Sickness?, Riots, Venice Beach. and Giving Thanks. As I said, it is an excellent intro to the New Poems 4 book series.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grudgingly admit I'm a far of many of Bukowski's poems and of many of the Beat writers work in general.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a all good poetry is about flower blossoms and undying love.

[niuz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aunque tiene algunas joyas, hay mejores compilaciones de Bukowski.