Bukowski reading in 1971
The second time I saw Charles Bukowski read was in the fall of 1971, and it was a much bigger event. My friend John Kay, a small press poet and editor, had organized Poetry Week at CSULB as an annual event, and this was its first year. He had a budget of $1,000 from the college to pay for nationally known poets to come and read, and among those who came were Lyn Lifshin, Brother Antoninus (William Everson), and Bukowski. John had a previous connection with Buk in that he had published some of Bukowski's poems in his literary magazine, MAG. When John first approached him, Buk wasn't interested, but when John offered him a $200 honorarium, Buk accepted. John had some posters printed up advertising Bukowski's reading. They were maybe 11 by 17 and all black and white. There was a photo of Buk that was either in silhouette or high contrast -- all I recall is that it was dark and almost abstract in effect, but the face was unmistakeable. John and I went all over campus and probably throughout the city of Long Beach, tacking these up everywhere. Bukowski's first novel, POST OFFICE, had just come out and he was better known than the last time I saw him. The reading was held in the Student Union building, in a lecture hall, or maybe it was a small auditorium. About a hundred people showed up. I got there early with some friends and we sat near the front. We were pretty damned excited to be seeing Bukowski read. This was on a morning during a week day. Some of us had probably skipped class to be there. Buk looked a lot different than the last time: more seedy and gone to pot. He appeared hung over, and was drinking openly during the reading, so this reading was more rowdy and less genteel than the last time. He sipped orange juice and Vodka from a thermos and made a few jokes about it. He was much looser, perhaps due to the drink but also possibly because he was more of a literary star by then and felt he could get away with it. He read many poems from his early books. I don't think he read any fiction. I recall two poems in particular: one called "the shoelace" (collected in MOCKINGBIRD WISH ME LUCK), and another that I don't know the title of (maybe some of you experts can help me out here) but it's got an image in it of a man picking a flower on a mountaintop, or something like that. It was 36 years ago, so that's the best I can do on that one. Being young and stupid, I had the idea at one point to yell out a question at him, heckler-like, something along the lines of: "Hey Bukowski, how did you get so ugly?" Somehow, I resisted that temptation. He read for over an hour, and earned his money. It was a good reading -- solid poems, strong performance -- and the whole event had a timelessness to it, like it was history in the making. Afterwards, he was surrounded by fans asking him to sign books. I remember this one young woman who was very attractive had him sign a copy of his first book, FLOWER, FIST AND BESTIAL WAIL, and he was genuinely surprised to see it, asking her how she got her hands on it, and commenting on what a rare book it was. Afterwards, there was a gathering at the local college beer bar, the 49er Tavern, with a bunch of us sitting around Bukowski on one of the long wooden benches, listening to his stories. John Kay was there, also professor Gerry Locklin, who was a good friend of Bukowski's, and one of the few poets Buk could tolerate being around, my writer pal Dana Hall and I, and others. After a while, Buk got bored with us and made a statement about "Here we are again with the boys from English 1A," and shortly after that the party broke up. I kept some of John's posters for a while until I had my run-in with Buk (also at the 49er), after which I was pissed at him and threw the posters away. I've never seen another, never seen it reproduced. If one of you collectors have a copy of that poster and could post a photo on the Forum, I'd love to see it again. That's about all I remember from the second reading. Hope these accounts of live Buk readings have been interesting to some of you.
