Hey mjp,I'm taking the answer from a Bukowski interview, and it is not Mitzi and/or Betty...though it may have been a different name every time he told the story.
Since Days was published in 1969 and since I'm guessing a majority of those "leftover" poems probably had to do with Jane, I'm going to guess "Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame" which is selected poems from 1955 through 1973.However, as early as April 1970 those "leftover" poems were put aside for a different book which would come out some years later. Which was the title of that book?
Those early (pre-1970) books and magazine appearances are interesting, you can see that not many poems went to waste. They were used and reused and published all over the place.yep... though I think someone picked up those leftovers from the editing floor and used them for Fire Station.
I certainly didn't know Play the Piano had been 9 years in the making, so to speak.