As Buddha Smiles

by Charles Bukowski

20 mini-broadsides

Genres: Poetry

20 pages, Unbound

First published January 1, 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

[Asia Paglino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questa raccolta di poesie è composta da poesie senza un filo conduttore ben delineabile, si tratta di poesie di vario genere, per la quasi totalità in versi liberi, che raccontano piccoli episodi e riflessioni.
Ovviamente, tutto è descritto in pieno stile dell’autore, senza nessun genere di censura.
La cosa che però non mi ha fatto apprezzare fino in fondo questo libro è stato il fatto che sembrasse di leggere dei periodi successivamente “spezzettati in versi”.

[Ilias Vdm]

Traduzione di merda ofzoiets

[Hosho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mini- letterpress broadsides in a handy carrying case!

[Hosho · Rating 5 out of 5]

The project that put Bottle of Smoke Press on the map. Highly prized by those who own it, but even if you can't find a copy, you owe it to yourself to read this great project.