New Poems Book Four

by Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski was one of America's best-known writers and one of its most influential and imitated poets. His slum upbringing, his succession of menial jobs and his experience of gritty urban America are all reflected in his Best Generation writing and poetry, for which he became a cult figure.

Although in his lifetime Bukowski published over 45 books of poetry, hundreds of his poems were reserved for publication after his death. Following on from the success of three previous volumes, this fourth collection of these unique and previously unpublished poems, which Bukowski considered to be among his finest work, is essential for all readers and collectors of one of the most distinctive writers of recent years.

Genres: Poetry

Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2007

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

[Mark Glover]

Bukowski is the people's poet in every sense of the word, detailing the struggles, boredom, defeat and sometimes surreal nature of everyday life. Coming to popularity late in his life makes his observance all the more rounded and his dissection of the true nature of living a thrill to read. There are entire novels painted in just a few lines from his finely crafted work, work which to the untrained eye might not seem like 'poetry' are in fact so brilliant in their immediacy that I would argue the case for Bukowski being amongst the finest exponents of the craft that ever lived. What make these works so brilliant is that in just the briefest of phrases Bukowski brings you into his world, one so fully formed that once inside you are almost moulded with his take on things, his experience and world weary view. What I found particularly fascinating about the book was that he references his fame a lot in this collection, always with a skeptical almost fatalistic view suggesting someone who after years of struggle cannot fully accept the acclaim and benefits that he has worked so hard for. Here he eulogises the struggle whilst also criticizing the posthumous glamour that people associated with it, the people who would crawl through his window keen to try and capture the essence of what for him was a solitary and difficult but not entirely redundant time. Reading these reflections on his past you get the feeling that he honestly would not mind or even be surprised to find himself shifted back to the time in which he struggled through the dead end jobs, chaotic home life and craziness just to get the words down on the page. Even at the end he still realises that these moments for all their bleakness are the ones that shaped him and gave him his voice. What Bukowski did with that voice though is what marks his achievement for while his words are a long way from Wordsworth or Keats, through his documenting that which surrounded him he reached for the same stars seeking only to document the world that he saw in all its ugliness, beauty and grace.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"... how close we all are
to being
nothing
most of the
time

and
for some of us
nothing
all of the
time"

How fragile and human he was.
His poem "With his awful teeth" he shows another side of the old drunk people are familiar with.

"this dog Sadness is gnawing at me
again.
I sit in this room with a big hole
chewed in my
side.
all i want are some gentle
moments
to fall like soft
raindrops.
they will not arrive.
this dog Sadness is a persistent
mongrel.
he finds me so often
these days,
again and again.
he is here with me now.
"go on" he growls, "write your
poem about me,
it won't make me go
away".
he's right.
i stop and look at my
wristwatch,
follow the second
hand around
and around.
it leads me nowhere.
I am trapped here with this Sad
dog.
I make small movements,
light a cigarette,
rattle a box of paper clips.
nothing changes.
this dog of Sadness
continues to
sit here with me,
feeding greedily.
you want a pet,
my friend?
I'll give him to you right
now
along with this
poem!
If only
you would
be kind enough to
take him away,
this
Sad
dog."

Also very powerful and true are "Checkamate", "To hell and back", "Something's knocking at the door".

[Kacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I don't expect an eternal shining light but they've sat us down in this pukey dark and left us diddling with broken dreams."

I loved this but that's not a surprise because it's Bukowski.

[Rupom Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

"how do we know
we haven't died
and gone to hell?"

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first volume of Bukowski's work that I have read. I have read snippets here and there and always liked what I have sampled, which is what made me read more. I did not expect to love his work as much as I do! He is completely different to any other poet I have read, which perhaps where the fascination comes from. For me, his style is fresh. Bukowski is refreshing for me! I'm going to read more for sure, but not straight away. I'm going to leave it a while. I have nothing to justify saying this, but I think if I binge read him, he might get samey..... I don't want that to happen! (Feb 2016)

Re-read 2017:

Still great, still a dude. 4*

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of miscellany compounded into an edition. What can I say? It was great. Okay maybe the four was too high, but it was at least a 3.8. It is Buk. Some of his poems are self reflexive, others point the looking glass out. They, like most of his works, are simple and provoking. A great read.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came to Bukowski later in life and have scooped up most of his work that is available. Bukowski takes me to a place where you see the realism of a life. All the vagaries of life are discussed and put through the microscope. Always worth reading. The doyen of American poetry to me. Read him as soon as you get a chance