Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way (2002)

Published as a poetry collection by Ecco, 24/12/2002

Works in this Book

• Introduction to chapter 2 - pg. 107 - 1979
• So You Want To Be A Writer - pg. 3 - 1992
• My Secret Life - pg. 6 - circa 1991-1994
• The Column - pg. 16
• Commerce - pg. 18
• The Mexican Fighters - pg. 22
• This Dog - pg. 25 - circa 1991
• The Great Escape - pg. 28 - 1992
• A Quick One - pg. 30
• The Old Anarchist - pg. 32
• And I Still Won't Vote - pg. 33 - 1981
• Just Trying To Do A Good Deed - pg. 35
• We Are Always One Step Removed - pg. 38 - circa 1993
• My Life As A Sitcom - pg. 39
• A Mechanical Lazarus - pg. 41
• My God - pg. 45 - 1981
• After The Sandstorm - pg. 46 - 1981
• Carry On! - pg. 48
• Straw Hats - pg. 53 - 1990
• Drink And Wait - pg. 56 - 1980
• Basking In The Evil Light - pg. 57
• What Can I Do? - pg. 63 - 1985
• Out Of The Sickroom And Into The White Blazing Sun - pg. 64
• Temporal Ease - pg. 66 - 1980
• You Never Liked Me - pg. 68
• Our Big Day At The Movies - pg. 71
• About Competition - pg. 75
• Fingernails - pg. 76 - 1983
• Iron - pg. 80 - circa 1991
• Extraterrestrial Visitor - pg. 85 - 1975
• Small Talk - pg. 86
• Too Sweet - pg. 89
• Work-Fuck Problem - pg. 91 - 1971
• Observations On Music - pg. 94
• Fly Boy - pg. 96
• Unblinking Grief - pg. 101
• There Are So Many Houses And Dark Streets Without Help - pg. 102
• The Joke Is On The Sun - pg. 105 - circa 1986
• Like A Polluted River Flowing - pg. 109
• Girlfriends - pg. 111 - 1983
• Escape 1942 - pg. 113
• A Strange Horse Poem - pg. 115
• The Longest Snake In The World - pg. 119 - circa 1993
• The Niceties - pg. 124
• Time To Water The Plants And Feed The Cat - pg. 127 - 1978
• I'm Flattered - pg. 129 - 1990
• Neither Shakespeare Nor Mickey Spillane - pg. 132
• Show Business - pg. 135 - 1992
• Pop! - pg. 137 - 1980
• The Interview - pg. 138 - circa 1991-1994
• Re-Union - pg. 140 - 1983
• Genius Unfettered - pg. 141
• Bob - pg. 145 - 1981
• Bearclaw Morning - pg. 147
• Death And Transfiguration - pg. 152
• Warriors In This Place - pg. 153
• A Sickness? - pg. 155
• A Fine Night - pg. 162 - 1980
• Riots - pg. 165
• Venice Beach - pg. 166 - circa 1974
• The Con Job - pg. 167
• Looking Back - pg. 169
• The Love Poems Of Catullus - pg. 177
• Dream Girl - pg. 179 - 1984
• Empties - pg. 181
• The Landlady - pg. 186
• About The Mail - pg. 188 - 1985
• Have You Ever Pulled A Lion's Tail? - pg. 191 - circa 1962
• Who Needs It? - pg. 193
• Tight Black Pants - pg. 194
• The Weirdest Day - pg. 195
• Burning Bright - pg. 201 - 1979
• The Death Of A Hero - pg. 202 - 1990
• Hooked - pg. 204 - 1973
• Found Poems - pg. 206 - 1983
• Runaway Inflation - pg. 208 - 1980
• The Significance Was Obscure - pg. 210 - 1984
• Cracking The Odds - pg. 211
• Working Through It All - pg. 216
• Giving Thanks - pg. 217 - circa 1992
• Los Angeles - pg. 224 - 1985
• 2,294 - pg. 225 - 1974
• Why Do You Write So Many Poems About Death? - pg. 226 - 1990
• Evidence - pg. 228
• A Wise-Ass - pg. 231 - 1992
• The Dressmaker - pg. 234 - circa 1993
• Lunch In Beverly Hills - pg. 237
• She Was Really Mad - pg. 239 - 1983
• A Tree, A Road, A Toad - pg. 240
• In One Ear And Out The Other - pg. 242 - circa 1992
• Excuses - pg. 244
• Bygone Days - pg. 245
• In A Lady's Bedroom - pg. 248
• Model Friend - pg. 250 - 1981
• The Invitation - pg. 257
• Hollywood Hustle - pg. 258 - 1975
• Buddah Chinaski Says - pg. 259 - 1986
• Like Lazarus - pg. 262
• Soft And Fat Like Summer Roses - pg. 269 - circa 1946
• In Transit - pg. 271
• Dear Mr. Chinaski - pg. 274
• Silverfish - pg. 275 - 1990
• The Popularity Kid - pg. 277
• Death And White Glue - pg. 280
• Fun Times: 1930 - pg. 282
• My Bully - pg. 284 - circa 1993
• Ow Ow Ow - pg. 288 - 1990
• The Singers - pg. 290
• The March - pg. 292 - 1976
• The Way Things Are - pg. 295
• Words For You - pg. 296 - 1982
• Strictly Bullshit - pg. 298 - 1985
• Written Before I Got One - pg. 300 - 1985
• Straight On - pg. 302
• Remember This - pg. 304 - 1985
• Now See Here - pg. 306 - 1982
• Little Poem - pg. 308 - circa 1973
• Gertrude Up The Stairway, 1943 - pg. 311 - 1985
• Where Was I? - pg. 313
• Sloppy Day - pg. 317 - 1981
• Note On The Telephone - pg. 325 - circa 1991-1994
• At The Edge - pg. 328
• Heads Without Faces, Seen In All The Places - pg. 330 - 1980
• Coming Awake - pg. 332 - 1979
• The Simple Truth - pg. 334
• Here And Now - pg. 336
• Crazy World - pg. 341
• Good Stuff - pg. 342 - circa 1985
• Respite - pg. 346 - 1977
• The Horse Player - pg. 348
• Displaced - pg. 350 - 1990
• In Search Of A Hero - pg. 352
• Escapade - pg. 358
• Burning, Burning - pg. 359 - circa 1993
• Upon Reading An Interview With A Best-Selling Novelist In Our Metropolitan Daily Newspaper - pg. 361 - 1991
• Nothing To It - pg. 362 - 1990
• This Place - pg. 364 - 1990
• A.D. 701-762 - pg. 366 - 1986
• Regrets Of A Sort - pg. 368 - 1982
• Too Young - pg. 371
• Listening To The Radio At 1:35 A.M. - pg. 373 - 1981
• Unclassical Symphony - pg. 374 - 1990
• Dinner For Free - pg. 375
• A Song From The 70'S - pg. 379
• .188 - pg. 380 - 1990
• War Some Of The Time - pg. 382
• At Last - pg. 383
• Misbegotten Paradise - pg. 386
• My Big Night On The Town - pg. 390
• Nobody But You - pg. 393
• Like A Dolphin - pg. 395

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