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BUK letters on eBay.... (1 Viewer)

i'm fairly sure that everyone on here will be in agreement with me that abandoned planet is a top notch seller in every regard. i've purchased over a dozen rare buk items from them and have never had any problems...

as far as value...well, if i had a couple thousand to spare, i would prolly buy one or two of them. but i don't ;)
 
I like Scott, but when he says, "There are no more," like he does with these letters, take that with a grain of salt. There are always more. He told me 5 years ago that he had no more manuscripts to sell, and has probably sold a couple hundred since then. It's nothing compared to the 1000+ that he sold overall, but he tends toward hype sometimes.

His prices are usually reasonable - though they may tend toward the high side of reasonable - but it's almost always top shelf stuff, so it's worth what he asks.

The "letters" he has listed now though, not so top shelf. All kind of throwaway stuff. You used to be able to get inconsequential letters like that for $20, but of course those days are long gone. I don't think I'd go $225 or $275 for any of those though...
 
well, ok. cirerita doesn't seem to be in agreement.
i've never had a problem with abandoned planet though. and i've spent thousands on buk related items there(via ebay)...
 
Great :D 'letters'....
Shit,
Does anyone have stprickl's e-mail addy?

I've got 2 letters written to Steve Richmond
that are, what?, maybe,
I don't know,
a little more, 'in-depth'. ;)

Did I ever scan them for you mjp
So you could have them here?

(and btw carterofmars, I give Scott a thumbs up too. And too, I bought mine some time ago, (the price escapes me for some reason, ha) and I wouldn't know the value either... though pbgalleries would tell you, and take from you...)
 
Here is mine...
 

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st. nick will die at some point... not to be crass or anything, but that's going to be quite an event when his collection is sold.
 
I've got 2 letters written to Steve Richmond
that are, what?, maybe,
I don't know,
a little more, 'in-depth'. ;)

Did I ever scan them for you mjp
So you could have them here?
No, don't believe so. I have about 80 letters waiting to go up to the site, but none from Richmond.

(Make that 81 - thanks Carterofmars! ;))
 
Great little letter, Carter! - "I'm a godless monk" :D

Bukfan:

Yeah, I loved that Godless Monk line. I thought this letter I grabbed was really interesting. This letter has misanthropy, horses, cat, and flask guy. It was between this one and the letter entirely in his hand. but, I just really liked the content of the one I took.


Hank Solo:

Who is stnickl? Does he buy up everything or something?

joe
 
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I'd rather see his letters be published in a book. Just like the book "Living On Luck" which I have. Take the risk of being ripped off by someone. The collection of Buk's letters that's on this website is impressive. I hope that one letter that was posted gets included with the others.
 
Here is mine...


You know, as I read my letter... I think this could have been a poem.

as a matter of fact the more I read it the more I'm convinced that as he wrote this, it must have come from the same place his poems came from. It reads just like one of his poems.

Read it a dozen or so times I think some may agree...

I took the liberty to structure this as he might have himself...

enjoy...



somethings don't change


my big brown-yellow
cat has
been prowling
this room.
he's waiting for
me to get
out of this chair
where
I type

it's often his
sleeping place.
All right.
he can have
it.

My ass
is beat from
3 months of
80 mile
round
trips to the
racetrack.

Just that
mass of faces
out
there
is horrifying.

I think,
doesn't anybody
else
see what
I see?

I don't
think that they
do, or
otherwise they would
run
out of
there screaming.


Somethings
don't change.

I'm a
godless
monk.

What
a
laugh.




joe
 
there's a sizable contingent that would point to the fact that you can add line breaks to a letter he wrote to create a poem in order to demonstrate his lack of talent. i disagree, although it begs the question: if everything he wrote is a poem, does "poetry" have any meaning or significance over any other form of writing? in other words, is bukowski's contribution to poetry that he opened it up so anything can be a poem (just like how conceptual art galleries display half-eaten hamburgers as art under glass)?
 
there's a sizable contingent that would point to the fact that you can add line breaks to a letter he wrote to create a poem in order to demonstrate his lack of talent. i disagree...

I disagree also.

There is some correspondence that is just that... correspondence, and you can plainly see that. Then there are letters that have poetry in them, and you can see that.

This one does. You can simply say a thing... and then you can say a thing with style. This one has style.


joe
 
there's a sizable contingent that would point to the fact that you can add line breaks to a letter he wrote to create a poem in order to demonstrate his lack of talent. i disagree, although it begs the question: if everything he wrote is a poem, does "poetry" have any meaning or significance over any other form of writing? in other words, is bukowski's contribution to poetry that he opened it up so anything can be a poem (just like how conceptual art galleries display half-eaten hamburgers as art under glass)?

if i were new to the forum, this could be interpreted as a trolling post... but i do think that the above questions are worth thinking about, although I agree with joe's last response.
 
I will always maintain that Bukowski had something that you can't teach someone, and that is rhythm. When I was a teenager I tried to teach my best friend how to play the guitar. I tried for a year, but the fucker just had an absolute and astounding lack of rhythm. Finally I had to give up.

Rhythm is essential for all good writing, in my never humble opinion. But it's overlooked by a lot of people.

You cannot just break up his prose into short lines and make poetry. I think a lot of people make that mistake because they run a few poem lines together and say, "Well this is just a sentence!"

Yeah man, anyone can write a Bukowski poem.

You wouldn't want to read 99.99% of them, but they could (and do) do it.

Doing something in a simple way can be extremely difficult. Music, art. writing, wallpapering (do people wallpaper anymore?).

Anyway, the rhythm is on display the further back you go. The later one-word-line poems have a different kind of rhythm and pace. Not necessarily a better one.
 
in some of his letters from the 60s (collected in 'Screams') he even starts to break his lines down. or, if you prefer, inserts a 'poem' in the letter sponaneously.

i will have to look it up, when back home, but in one of my german books he states in an essay: "What I've done for literature is, to show that you can write a poem just like a letter and it doesn't need anything holy about it." (NOT verbatim)

and yes, his rhythm and his style - they make it!
 
You cannot just break up his prose into short lines and make poetry. I think a lot of people make that mistake because they run a few poem lines together and say, "Well this is just a sentence!"

Yeah man, anyone can write a Bukowski poem.

mjp:

hey, I agree with you 1000%. I would never dream that anyone can come close to replicating what Hank did. That's just crazy. I'm just playing a bit here... I know that everyone on this board loves the Buk and I'm sure anyone would give there right testicle to see a few more undiscovered pieces. I guess this is a "fantasy poem" if you will.

Always imitated NERVER duplicated.


i will have to look it up, when back home, but in one of my german books he states in an essay: "What I've done for literature is, to show that you can write a poem just like a letter and it doesn't need anything holy about it." (NOT verbatim)

Roni:

I'd be interested in reading that interview. If you can post the title of that book it would be cool. Only problem is I can only curse in German....


joe
 
Actually, it sounds better just ending at: somethings don't change


To me it sounds like a place he may have ended it. But, remember this is just my "fantasy poem".



somethings don't change


my big brown-yellow
cat has
been prowling
this room.
he's waiting for
me to get
out of this chair
where
I type

it's often his
sleeping place.
All right.
he can have
it.

My ass
is beat from
3 months of
80 mile
round
trips to the
racetrack.

Just that
mass of faces
out
there
is horrifying.

I think,
doesn't anybody
else
see what
I see?

I don't
think that they
do, or
otherwise they would
run
out of
there screaming.


Somethings
don't change.




joe
 
I'd be interested in reading that interview. If you can post the title of that book it would be cool. Only problem is I can only curse in German....

that's alright. the first 3 things i always want to learn in a foreign language is "thanks", "please" and to curse.
well, and to say "hello".
the first 4 things i want to learn ...


the book is, what i made a link about.
Here it is:

BUK - Von und ueber Charles Bukowski.
Edited by A.D.Winans [!] and Rainer Wehlen.
Augsburg: Maro, 1983/84/89.



the quote i was referring to, wasn't an interview, but an essay by Buk.
the german title of which is 'Er verprügelt die Frauen, mit denen er zusammen lebt.' (ENGLISH: 'He beats his women.')

in my edition, the quote is on page 111 and goes:

"Mein Beitrag war es, die Lyrik loszuläsen und sie einfacher zu machen, sie menschlicher zu gestalten. Ich habe ihnen beigebracht, dass man ein Gedicht in der gleichen Art und Weise schreiben kann wie einen Brief, dass ein Gedicht sogar unterhaltsamer sein kann und dass zu einem Gedicht nicht notwendigerweise ein Anflug von Heiligkeit gehärt."

my own poor English RE-TRANSLATION:

"My contribution [to literature] was, to losen it, to make it easier, more human. I taught them, that a poem can be written in the same way as a letter, that a poem can be even more entertaining and that you don't need any holyness about it."
 
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